Just As Long As We're Together
by Tropical Fishy
Summary: The sequel to The Flower and the Stag.
1. this is the first chapter

Oh, yuck. I just drank off milk. Now that we've gotten that little fact over and done with, this is the sequel to The Flower and the Stag. Sorry it took so long, but I haven't even been near the computer in over twenty-four hours. I'm suffering Internet deprivation, and when I told my mother that, she just laughed and continued playing solitaire. 

Lucy? Are you reading this? Hello! I'm telling you now- I don't like Sirius, okay? So I'm not imagining him when I'm writing about him, got it? 

****

Just As Long As We're Together

Chapter 1

Lily Cooper lay in bed, fiddling with the feathers on her dreamcatcher, blowing them to and fro. She felt around the bedside table for her wand, and then lowered it down until the feathers tickled her nose. She sneezed.

Lily groaned and put her face in her pillow, muttering something about insomnia and chicken feathers. She had only graduated from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry two weeks earlier, but was missing her friends terribly, especially Jo Gilles and James Potter- though she didn't particularly want to admit that she missed him. 

After a few hours of tossing and turning restlessly in bed, she crawled out, padded down the hallway in her slippers, pinched some green floo powder up in her fingers and sprinkled it out into the fireplace. 

'The Madhouse!' 

Jo Gilles lay on the couch, eating popcorn, watching an old muggle movie on the television. Her family was a wizarding family, but her older brother had an obsession with muggle items, and their house was full of old telephones and typewriters, tape-players, records, but Jo's personal favourite was the television.

She almost choked on her popcorn when Lily Cooper rolled out onto the carpet, spreading soot everywhere. 

'Hi Jo!' 

'Er- hi. Isn't it a bit late to be house calling?'

'Oh, what's the time?' Lily glanced at a clock. 'Oops. Sorry. But I had a feeling you might be awake.'

'Exercising those Divination muscles, eh?'

Lily grimaced. 'Don't bring up Trelawney now, I am seriously not in the mood.'

'Speaking of Sirius-'

'I wasn't speaking of Sirius.' Lily said bluntly, sitting herself down on the couch and helping herself to some popcorn. 

Jo ignored her. 'Have you seen him lately? I mean, I know him and James and Remus were going to stay together for awhile- at least until you and James get married, but I don't think they've found anything yet.'

Lily goggled at her friend, her mouth open, the half-chewed popcorn inside visible for all to see. 'Since when are we getting married?'

'Mm? Oh, I dunno.' Jo said this with complete vagueness, as if she had no idea she'd said anything of the sort. 

Lily rolled her eyes, then looked at the TV. 'Ooh. What's on? Mary was watching some boring movie at home, but this looks better.'

'Little Women,' Jo said through a mouthful of popcorn. 

'Oh, this movie is so _sad_. I saw it a couple of holidays ago. When Beth dies-'

'Lily!'

'What?' Lily didn't take her eyes off the screen. 

'I haven't seen it before. Now I know what happens.'

'Oops. Sorry. How 'bout I modify your memory?'

'Er- no. I'm really not that fussed.'

'Oh.' Lily sounded quite disappointed. 'But I'm very good at memory charms.'

Jo snorted. 'James couldn't even remember his name when you were finished with him, remember?'

'So it was a bit strong. Maybe I've improved.'

'Yeah, maybe being the operative word.'

Lily shrugged. 'Anyway, it always makes me cry.' 

The two girls sat silently for awhile, sniffing at the sad bits. When James Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin toppled out of the fireplace, the only occupants of the room were wiping their eyes. Lily quickly forgot about the movie when she saw James, however. Sirius watched them with disgust. 

'Anyone would think they hadn't seen each other for weeks,' he grumbled. 

'Well, strictly speaking, they haven't.'

Sirius grinned at Jo, and she had a sudden urge to throw herself at him, but decided that a) he might not appreciate it, b) Lily, James and Remus would never let them hear the end of it, and c) she couldn't think of a c, which made it all very difficult. 

'So. What're you all doing here? Lil' couldn't sleep, but you all appear to be wide awake- I don't think you've even been trying.' 

'Uh, no. But we have good news!'

Lily sat down on the couch next to James. 'What?'

'We found a flat!'

'Oooh. Where?'

'In London. We just had to share the news with you.'

'We haven't found anything,' Lily said despairingly. 'And I don't think I can stand another day with Petunia- though she spends so much time with that Dursley guy, I barely see her nowadays.'

'You mean the one that looks like a pig?'

'Yeah, that's him.'

'Maybe you could turn him _into_ a pig,' Sirius said thoughtfully. 

'Petunia would not appreciate that, and I don't want to have my licence suspended, thanks very much.'

'Aww…I'd love to see him with a curly tail…'

Lily grinned and looked wistful. 'Me too. Hey, have any of you had your Apparition test yet?'

'Nope. Mine's tomorrow,' Jo didn't look very happy about this- she looked as if she would rather use Floo powder for the rest of her life, and she pointed this out. 

'Mine's tomorrow too.'

'Me too.'

'Yup.'

'Cool. I have mine then as well.'

'Oh, good. So we can all stuff up together.'

__

'Jo. Think positive.'

'Trust me, I'm trying. It's rather difficult though when you imagine yourself falling on top of some poor, innocent muggle who's just wandering around without a care in the world-'

'Maybe you _shouldn't_ imagine.' 

'Hmm. Yeah, good idea.'

'You weren't planning on going back any time soon, were you?'

'Well, we can't stay all night. Why?'

'Er- Remus appears to have fallen asleep.'

Lily giggled. 

'Don't laugh, Lil. James has followed in his footsteps.'

'He has?' Lily twisted round so she could see him. 'Aww…doesn't he look cute?'

'If you call that cute, then I guess so.'

Lily rolled her eyes. _'You're_ just jealous.' 

'Moi? Jealous of that?' He snorted. 

'This is ridiculous. At this rate we'll all be falling asleep during the written part of the test.' Jo sat down next to James and Lily, looking stressed.

'I thought we were rid of tests forever.' Sirius collapsed onto a cushion and landed on the popcorn. 'Ouch.'

'I was going to eat that,' Jo said, looking at him with disappointment evident in her eyes. 

'Ah, well. I'm sure it's still good.'

'Er- no, thankyou. I'll manage.' 

Lily looked around at her friends, two of whom were fast asleep, one who was yawning, and the other helping themselves to rather crumbly popcorn. Lily grinned, wondering if she should go back home. James's head rested on her shoulder. Well, she couldn't very much disturb him, could she? So she stayed, drifting off to sleep quite contentedly. 

When Jo's brother got up for a drink later that evening, he was quite surprised to find not one, but five teenagers on the couch, four who were asleep. The other was blindly eating the popcorn, missing his mouth every couple of handfuls, as his eyes were full of tears. Sirius sniffed. 

He rummaged around for the TV guide to see what the movie was, so he could complain about it being too sad. Little Women, eh? Sirius wiped his eyes as the credits came on. He felt around in the bowl for some popcorn, and discovered it was completely empty, but for a few crumbs. 

'How depressing,' he muttered, curling up next to Jo and Remus. 

***

Lily watched as witch after wizard after wizard after witch disappeared to who-knows-where for their apparition tests. They were mostly graduates from Hogwarts. Katherine McDowell smiled at James as he walked past, and Lily cursed her with a Hobbling Hex, making her look quite like she was an old woman with a limp. The grey hair Sirius added as a final touch didn't really help her image, and the wart on her nose just made things worse. 

Lily gulped as she approached the Training Wizard. There was even a nurse standing by, and Lily heard Jo muttering something about her ears. 'I'll _bet_ I leave them behind.' 

'Really? How much?'

As Lily stepped up to the platform they were supposed to Apparate from, she heard Jo slap Sirius, which possibly calmed her down. A bit. Then she waved her wand, said the spell, and it was quite like using floo powder, only much quicker and not so dizzying. She landed on top of a hill, where there were some more wizards. 

'Oh, good. Now. Is all of me present?' Lily looked down at herself, and was happy to find that not even a toe was missing- well, she assumed no toes were missing. It was kind of hard to tell. 

Jo appeared a few moments later, her eyes closed tightly together. She opened one cautiously. 'Am I all in one piece?' She asked, not opening both eyes just yet.

'Yup.'

'You sure about that? Cause I don't want to discover I've only got one arm…today has been hectic enough as it is.'

'Well…'

'Lily!'

'Yeah, you're okay.'

Jo breathed a sigh of relief. 'Oh, good. Where's everyone else?'

'Dunno. Sirius was behind you, wasn't he?'

'Yup.'

'Maybe he's had complications.'

'Yeah! Maybe his eyes fell out!'

'For someone who's madly in love with Sirius, that's a pretty harsh comment.'

'Well, then he wouldn't know who it was kissing him.'

Lily raised her eyebrows. 'You really want to kiss someone with no eyeballs?'

'Hey, he'd still basically all be there.'

Sirius popped up right at that very moment, and he looked at the two girls quizzically. 'Who would?'

Jo spun around, seemingly checking Sirius's eyes. She looked a bit disappointed. 'Oh. No one.'

'What took you so long?' Lily asked, sitting down to wait for the others. 

'Oh, nothing.' 

'Yeah, right. Did you say the wrong charm or something?'

'I er- may have turned the Training Wizard into a possum…' Sirius trailed off and Jo goggled at him. 

'How did you manage _that_?'

'I was nervous. Oh, look. Saved by Prongs.' James sat down on the grass dizzily. 

'Do have to go back now?'

'Nah…I'm hungry.' Sirius rubbed his stomach and looked around for some food.

'You're always hungry,' said Remus who had just Apparated. 

'Good. All of us are here. Let's eat.'

'Do you only think about your stomach?'

'No.' Sirius grinned. 'I think about lots of other things.'

'Oh, God.' Lily pulled a face. 'I don't even want to know what goes on in your twisted mind.' 

'I want to know.' Jo piped up and Lily sighed, hoping Sirius wouldn't listen. But instead he smirked and whispered something in her ear.

'Yup, Lily, you didn't want to know.'

***

Lily was helping Katrina, her youngest cousin with making a play-dough snowman when Jo wandered in, looking extremely pleased with herself. 

'Who are you?' Katrina asked, accidentally mushing the play-dough nose under her fist. 

'This is my friend Jo.' Lily answered, wiping her hands on her pants. 'How come you're here?' She asked her friend, gesturing for her to sit down. 

'I found us a flat.' 

Lily shrieked and jumped out of her seat, smushing the snowman in the process. 'Lily!' Katrina wailed, sticking her bottom lip out. 

'Oops. Here, hang on a second.' Lily thought for a moment and then waved her wand. A fully built snowman reappeared before their eyes, making the little girl squeal with delight. 

'Where is it?' Lily asked, her eyes wide with excitement. 

'Er- somewhere in London…I'm not sure where…but it's got two bedrooms, a bathroom, a smallish kitchen and another room. It's small but really cute. And it's cheap.'

'So, muggle money or wizard money?'

'Wizard. It belongs to a wizard; I don't remember their name. So you want it?'

'Course I want it! When can we move in?'

'Oh- er- well, that's the thing. It has to be by tomorrow or the next day.'

'Cool. I mean, I have to say goodbye to Kat and Matt and Davie and Mary -eurgh- but then I can leave. Oh, and Petunia. But after I've packed I'll come over to your house, kay?'

'Yup.' Jo grinned, and then Matt walked in, looking at Jo with interest. 

'Oh, Jo, this is Matt. And that's Katrina,' she added as an afterthought, remembering they hadn't been introduced. 

'You're the one who's in love with the guy who broke our lamp, aren't you?'

'I am?' Jo looked confused, thought she assumed he was talking about Sirius. 'He broke your lamp?'

'Mm…how come you're here?' 

'I found Lily and me a flat.'

'You leaving us, Lil?'

'Aw, sorry Matty. But-'

'She wants to be closer to darling James.'

'Darling James? Isn't he the one you were threatening to kill a few years ago?'

'Yeah, and I might kill her if she doesn't shut up.'

Mary had entered the room without them noticing, and she spoke up, sounding quite interested. 'He's that really cute guy with the glasses, isn't he?'

Now James and Sirius came into the already very crowded kitchen. 'Yeah, him! Didn't you kiss Lily?' 

James looked a bit taken aback, having missed most of the conversation, but Sirius rolled his eyes. 'D'you want the whole list? I mean, he kissed her in our fifth year, at least a million times in our sixth year, in our seventh year, last week...want the dates as well?' 

Mary obviously thought this stranger was very strange, and she left the room, but only after staring at him for a few seconds. 

'You didn't tell me you had a boyfriend.' Matt said with a grin.

Lily muttered something under her breath and escorted her three friends out the room and into her backyard. 

'That was…odd.' James commented, seating himself on the tyre swing. 

'That was my family.'

'Like he said, it was odd.' Sirius looked at a garden gnome with great interest. 

'Hey, I wasn't disagreeing.'

'We've found a flat!' Jo said, changing the subject. 

'Ooh. Where?' 

'In London somewhere, it's really cute.'

'How does a house get to be cute?' 

'When're you moving in?'

'Tonight, that is, if Lily ever packs her stuff.'

'I haven't exactly had a chance yet.'

'We'll help you pack.' Sirius offered. 

Lily shrugged. 'Kay.'

The four of them trooped upstairs and started packing all her stuff into boxes and then sending the boxes off to Jo's house with spells. 'Hey, what's this?' Sirius was going through one of Lily's drawers, and she rolled her eyes. 

'That is known as underwear, Sirius, or don't you wear it?'

'I'm no expert in girls undies, thanks very much.'

'Do you mind?' Lily said, as Sirius rifled through her drawers. 

'Ooh…this is pretty.' 

'Thanks.' Lily said dryly, slamming the drawer shut, missing Sirius's fingers by inches. 

'I didn't know you owned pink underwear.' 

'Well, guess what? I also have a pair of- now, I know this may shock you- _blue_ underwear.' Sirius mock fainted at this statement. James and Jo watched the others with amusement, and Jo glanced at James with her eyebrows raised. James shrugged. 'D'you have a pair of _purple_ underwear?' 

'That is for me to know and you not to find out.' 

'Aww. Such a shame.'

'When we've finished discussing the colours of Lily's underwear, can we finish packing?'

'Oh, yeah, that.' 

About half an hour later (with the help of a lot of magic) Lily's room was empty. She said goodbye to her cousins, waved to Petunia who was just coming into the house with Vernon Dursley. Then they Apparated away, with Petunia screaming after them. 

A few hours later, Lily appeared in their new 'house.' 

'What d'you think?' Jo said eagerly, wandering through the rooms, looking out all the windows to see the view. 

'Can I have this room?' Was Lily's answer, so Jo followed to sound of her voice and entered a room that was painted a light blue colour, with the ceiling black and painted with stars that twinkled. 

'Yeah, I guess. I want the room with the skylight.'

'There's a room with a skylight?'

'Well, no, not exactly. But there will be soon.'

'Ooh…good idea.'

There wasn't any point to that at all. I've completely forgotten who asked me this, but I live in South Australia, just outside of Adelaide. The weather stinks- figuratively speaking.

I'm sorry of this part was boring- I go back to school tomorrow and it's a very depressing thought. Oh, did anyone watch the closing ceremony? It was really good, but my sister and I were trying to figure out why there was a fishbone and a kangaroo with bolts in its neck. If anyone knows the answer to this question, please, tell me. 

Everyone and everything belongs to J.K. Rowling, except Jo. And she basically belongs to herself. Oh yeah, and Happy Birthday to- um…Cassie? Was it your birthday? I forget, sorry. Happy Birthday to whoever it was, sorry this is late. 

__


	2. this is the second chapter

I always thought that 'Lily' didn't have a meaning. You know how almost all the names have meanings? Anyway, it's the death flower…how interesting. 

****

Just As Long As We're Together

Chapter 2

'Lily! Wake up…fine, don't wake up, see if I care.' Jo looked down at Lily, who was fast asleep and muttering something about- well, Jo wasn't really sure. 

'If you can hear me, I have a job interview to go to, so I won't be back till lunchtime; could you- oh, wake up!'

Lily mumbled something and rolled over, blinking. 'Is it morning?'

'Hardly. You could sleep through a hailstorm, you know.'

'Just tickle my feet. I have very ticklish feet.'

Jo looked at Lily's feet with interest. 'Do you? I never knew that.'

Lily's feet quickly disappeared under the covers again. 'What were you saying about jobs?'

'I've got an interview with the Daily Prophet, so could you tell Sirius I can't help him with- um…whatever it is, he hasn't told me.'

Lily stared at her, and then yawned. 'Tell Sirius that you can't come to whatever it is?'

'Yup. Bye, gotta go.' Jo apparated in the kitchen, away from any windows where muggles might see. This is was Lily's tip, as growing up with Petunia taught her there is such a thing as 'over nosiness.' 

It was lunchtime, and Sirius knocked on the door impatiently, wondering where everyone was. After what seemed like a few hours, Lily answered, looking very asleep still. 

'What?'

'You know,' Sirius said, stepping into their flat, 'I could have been someone important, like the Minister. And you just say 'what?'

'It's not like _you're_ important.' She muttered, following him into the kitchen. 

Sirius was looking through the freezer. 'Do you have any chocolate flavoured stuff?'

'Ice cream, you mean?' 

'Um…yeah, I think that's it.' Sirius scratched his head thoughtfully, while Lily sat on the bench and watched him, and amused expression on her face.

'It's at the back. Don't you have food at home?'

'Well- er- see, none of us like shopping, and we can't exactly magic it to us, so we've sort of run out…James'll probably be here soon, he was starving this morning.' 

'Why don't you buy stuff at work?'

'We don't go to work, dumbbell. Not yet, anyway.'

'Oh, yeah…'

'But James has a job interview thingy today, mine was yesterday.'

'But you didn't turn anyone into a skunk or anything, did you?'

'Well, no…I was tempted.' 

Lily groaned. 

'But I didn't.' 

'Good. How come you're here, besides to steal our food?'

Sirius bit into an apple. 'Jo said she'd help me with something…where is she, anyway?'

Lily thought for a moment. She vaguely remembered being told something, though she wasn't quite sure what it was. Everything was still a little bit fuzzy. 

'Oh, she was going out…she told me to tell you.'

Sirius rolled his eyes. 'Hey, are you seeing Dumbledore tomorrow? He told us to come yesterday, how bout you?'

'Mm…but it's so early.' 

'Ten o'clock, Lil. I think you'll somehow manage to get out of bed before that. Unless, of course, you'd like to come in your pyjamas.'

Lily mumbled something and then flopped onto the couch. 

'Are you okay?' Sirius came over to her, looking concerned. 

'I'm fine…in fact, I've never felt better before in my life…'

Sirius raised his eyebrows and crossed his arms. 

'I feel like shit,' she groaned, lying back onto the armrest, her usual pale face a very white colour. 

Sirius put his hand up against her forehead. 'You've got a temperature.'

'Well spotted.'

'Okay, what do I do now?'

'What?'

'Well, I've taken your temperature- sort of- so now what do I do?'

'How should I know…let me sleep.'

'Are you sure?' Sirius said cautiously. 'You look really sick.'

Lily muttered something, and her eyelids fluttered closed. 

Sirius did the first thing that entered his head. He got James. 

James apparated over later that afternoon, and found Lily sitting on the couch, flicking through all the channels on the TV one by one, not really bothering to actually watch one. 

'Lily?'

'Mm…James?'

'Come on, we're going to a doctor.'

'I hate doctors. They always stick a thing down your throat and then-'

'A wizard doctor,' James interrupted. Lily got up, looking thoughtful. 

'Oh. Yeah. No, I'll stay home. I fine- just-' she swayed on the spot and sat down on the floor with a thump. 'Fine.' She finished. 

'Whatever. Come on.' James grabbed her by the arm and dragged her gently out the door. 'There's a doctor near here.'

Lily shook her head and to someone else it would have looked like she was drunk, the way she was wobbling all over the place. It made James nervous, because he had no idea what was wrong with her.

About an hour later, they got back home, to find Sirius and Jo eating spaghetti with spoons. Lily was too out of it to notice, but James let go of her elbow for a moment to gape at them. There was spaghetti all over the table and Sirius looked remarkably like a three-year-old who hadn't quite gotten hang of feeding himself yet. 

Lily fell to the floor in a heap and Jo rushed over. 'What's _wrong_ with her?'

'Oh, the doctor gave us some stuff for her to use, but said to do it at home, cause apparently it makes you turn a bit blue for a few hours. The muggles would have thought she was a bit weird.'

'Shouldn't we, like, carry her to bed.'

'Or magic her.' 

'Oh. Yeah, I forgot.'

When Lily was in bed, fast asleep and muttering about frogs in her sleep, they other three headed for the kitchen. 'So, what's wrong with her?'

'Some kind of virus…it's weird though, don't you think, the way the rest of us haven't got anything. Almost as if it were planned,' James said slowly, a puzzled expression on his face. 

'Well,' Sirius said, 'I think it's just weird you don't have anything, considering the amount of time the two of you-'

'Shut up, Sirius.' Jo said tiredly. 'So what you're saying,' she said to James. 'Is that you think someone's given Lily this thing, hoping to hurt her or something…good thing she's not weak.' 

'Yeah…' James was still absorbed in his thoughts, while Sirius was absorbed in the fridge. 

'Oh, for goodness sake, Sirius! Just eat the stupid yoghurt, will you?'

Lily appeared at the doorway then, looking very grumpy. 'Why is Sirius stuffing his face with…isn't that stuff off?'

James's face brightened. Lily was back. And Sirius was looking very green.

***

Third year Rowena Archer sat in the Gryffindor common room, eating chocolate frogs, feeling very contented. And then her best friend Joey McIntyre entered the room. Several moments later, she hardly had any frogs left, and Joey was feeling rather sick.

'I'm going to bed, okay?' She suddenly felt very tired. 

Joey looked at her in surprise. 'Huh? Ro, it's only eight o'clock.' He smiled cheekily. 'Don't you want to be beaten at chess tonight?'

Rowena just shrugged. 'My bed's lonely. See you tomorrow.'

Joey watched her disappear, his hand faltering and missing his mouth entirely before he could stuff yet another chocolate frog in. He wondered if they were brain damaging. Then he hastily dropped it onto the ground, pulling a face. 

The thing about going to sleep, Rowena thought, was that you couldn't control your dreams. Her dreams weren't quite as bad now that James Potter had left, but occasionally his face appeared in her dreams. She hadn't told anybody. Joey would laugh, and tell her that she was in love with someone five years older than she was. Her other friends would probably think she was off her rocker. 

After thinking about this for so long she was exhausted and confused, Rowena fell asleep, hoping to dream peaceful dreams, that don't mean anything and that you don't remember when you wake up. 

But of course, she didn't. 

James Potter- well, she assumed it was James Potter- was sitting in what looked just like the common room, laughing at something. There were other people, unfamiliar people standing in the background. A boy with red hair, like Lily's, only not quite so dark. Rowena's dreams were different to normal ones, much brighter, sharper. The boy who looked like James turned to another girl with brown hair, and she laughed, while the red haired boy scowled. She strained to hear their words, but that was thing. Her dreams were always silent. 

The boy looked up at something then, and his face brightened into a smile, lighting up his whole face, and then she saw his eyes, just as she always did. Something in her head clicked then, which was odd, as in dreams you usually aren't very aware of what's going on consciously. 

He had Lily's eyes, not James's. And it couldn't possibly be James, because he was tall. This boy was very small. Then the picture fa

Rowena woke up the next morning, puzzled. And when Joey tried to take away the rest of her chocolate, she was not only very puzzled, but also worried about her friend…maybe the chocolates were brain damaging or something. 

Sorry this took so long. The next part of this and Lily Angel should be posted soon. I've finally come to terms with the meaning Writers Block. Oh, and someone asked me what happened to Rowena (I'd forgotten all about her). Anyway, she'll probably be in it a bit more, once I've figured out why she does dream about Harry. 

I own absolutely everything…except Lily, James, and whoever else I don't really own. And if you want to sue me, I have- wait, no, need that for school. 

Hmm…now why did Lily get sick? Is someone out to kill her? Dadadadadada. (That was music from Jaws) Uh, yes, I think I'd better go now. Ta ta, do review- Lucy, don't be lazy. 

Oh, and someone pointed out to me that Sirius broke a vase, not a lamp…how is it you people remember these things, and I don't? I really never will understand it. 


	3. yup, the third one. but I can't remember...

****

Just As Long As We're Together

Chapter 3

'You know, I really don't think this is where we're supposed to be,' Lily said, looking at map with her nose wrinkled up in confusion.

'That would be because you have the map upside down, dope.' Sirius took the piece of parchment Dumbledore had sent to them and switched it around so it was the other way up. 

'Oh…we're still in the wrong spot, aren't we?' 

'No…didn't you pay attention when we did that course on reading maps?'

'Did anyone?'

'Mm…good point. But look, the castle is this way-' Sirius pointed and Lily looked up '- and then we have to go- oh- hmm…yeah…yup, we're lost.'

'Thanks Sirius. Now we've got that cleared up, can you tell me where we are?'

'Lily.' James said, shaking his head. 'Lost. That means we don't know.'

'And this comes from two of the smartest people at school.' Lily muttered, taking the map back. 'Do _any_ of you know how to read maps?'

'I do!' Remus piped up. 

'Do you?'

'Yeah…dunno how I managed to stay awake that lesson but I did.' 

'Oh, good. Do you know where we are?'

Remus took the map and examined it for a moment. 'Go about ten metres to the left… Uh, James, you can stop. There's a ditch up ahead.' James stopped abruptly. 'Now tap that- er, hang on a minute.' He walked over to where James was standing. 'Tap that log.'

James tapped the log and it stood up, bowed, then walked away, commenting on the weather. The space where it had been revealed a large hole in the ground. 

'Do we go down there?'

'No, Lily, we stand here and stare the pretty blackness of it,' Sirius said, stepping forward. He jumped down and disappeared. 

'Sirius?' Lily called down into the darkness. 

'Is he down there?' Remus asked, getting down onto his knees for a better look. 'Sirius?' He repeated. 

''Ooh…Hey, guys, there's food down here!' Sirius's voice echoed up to them, and James rolled his eyes. 

'Come on. We'd better go before that pig eats the whole lot of it.' James jumped, followed by Lily and Remus. 

They were in a large room underground, filled with witches and wizards. Most of them were older than they were, but a few were people they'd gone to school with, thankfully not including Katherine McDowell. 

'Where's the food?' Remus said the moment they landed on the ground. 

'Over there,' Sirius pointed to the other side of the room, where a large table of food was barely distinguishable. 

'Trust Sirius to be able to see that.' 

'Hey, I'm hungry. I can smell food, you know.'

A passing wizard gave Sirius an odd look, and his three friends glared at him, silently telling him to shut up. 

'I love food.' He explained, though the wizard had already forgotten. 'I live for it, I breathe for it, I-'

'Shut up. Come on, we have to find Dumbledore.' Lily grabbed Sirius by the elbow before he started singing about food and steered him over to where mostly old wizards were talking. It stood to reason that Dumbledore would be here, as they were all about his age level, and, as Lily had predicted, he was. Their old head master was talking quite seriously to a grey haired witch, who looked _almost_ like Katherine McDowell around James- so this was pretty gross in itself, considering how foul Katherine was. 

Remus gagged, drawing Professor Dumbledores attention to them instead of the old witch, who looked very disappointed. 

'Ah, yes. Betty, this is James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Lily Cooper, they attended Hogwarts.'

'Isn't Potter the boy who almost blew up the astronomy tower?' She said in a croaky voice, glaring at his hair scrutinisingly. 

James looked unusually innocent. 'Me?' 

Betty narrowed her eyes, but Dumbledore intervened. 

'Now. I think I'll call this meeting to order, shall I?' He smiled at Betty and the others, then stepped up onto a platform Lily was sure hadn't been there a few moments before. 

He clapped his hands to get attention, and all the witches and wizards present turned around, some coming closer so they could hear better. 

Sirius sighed, looking longingly at the table nearby full of food, including chocolate. 'I'm so hungry,' he moaned. Lily elbowed him, so he shut up, holding onto his side in mock pain. 

'Thankyou all for coming,' Dumbledore said, his old voice clear and strong, loud for everyone in the huge room to hear. 

'We are all here for one sole purpose, to oppose the dark arts. We may not defeat them; we will most likely not destroy them forever. But we will make a difference, and if we stop a child from dying, or a person losing their family, or even if we just comfort someone whose family has died, we _will_ have made a difference. I have asked you here today to help me with this. I myself do not agree with how the Ministry is dealing with the situation- they are blinded by their own ties and feelings- but I am sure that everyone in this room will not betray us, or disagree, or do anything to oppose us, whether it is to kill someone for Lord Voldemort-' here, almost everyone present flinched- 'or even just to pass on a message.' Dumbledore took a deep breath. 'If you feel you may do either of these things, or anything else to reveal our situation and what we are doing, I ask you to leave now.'

No one moved, and the old mans face relaxed ever so slightly. 

'I will be speaking to groups of you in turn, please, feel free to eat, we have plenty of food provided.' 

Sirius rubbed his stomach.

'One last thing,' Dumbledore said, before stepping off the platform, 'all of our meetings will be held here. Voldemort's supporters do not know the password, and I would like to keep it that way. I will not allow any video recorders, tape players, spying devices or even cameras down here, in case they are intercepted. Is that understood?' Dumbledore's voice was kind but there was some kind of ferociousness they'd never heard in it before, some kind of power he'd never used. 

They group nodded, and then slowly it became noisy again, as people went back to talking to each other. 

Sirius headed straight for the food, and when the others caught up with him, his mouth was full with cream buns. 

'You know, Sirius,' Remus said, looking at a bun in his hand (Sirius had been incapable of stuffing ten into his mouth) 'that looks quite like those cream buns from Honeydukes, you know, the ones that make you turn into a crab.'

Sirius's eyes widened, and he hurriedly spat the mess of buns out onto the floor. 

Lily's own eyes became huge, and her face turned a very pale shade of green. James gagged. 

'Thanks Moony. I'm going to be sick, lend me your hat, would you?'

Remus had obviously not expected Sirius to take that measure of action. 'When I'm finished with it.'

'Oh, come on. It's only a little bit of food, silly,' Sirius said, already starting on the chocolate sticks. 

Lily carefully avoided the mess on the floor as she stepped over to the table full of food. 

'Sirius, much as I hate to say this, they're-' Sirius interrupted what she was saying by turning into a large, crimson toad. 

'Yeah…they're the chocolate amphibian sticks…I gave one to Petunia a few years ago.' 

Professor Dumbledore chose that moment to walk over to them, an amused expression on his wrinkled face, blue eyes twinkling, taking in everything from Lily laughing and almost falling into the- _stuff_ on the floor, a toad croaking, and James and Remus decided whether to laugh, or rescue Lily from the wrath of a (very ugly) toad. 

By the time he had reached them, James was laughing, Remus was laughing, and Sirius (who had returned) was trying to stuff the chocolate amphibian sticks into Lily's mouth. When they saw him approaching, James and Remus stopped laughing, and Sirius relented, letting Lily breathe through her nose again. 

'Having fun?' Dumbledore said, smiling. 

'Er- yes.'

'I'm still feeling croaky,' Sirius muttered, nudging Lily. 

'Hey, it's not my fault you eat first and _then_ think.'

Sirius just snorted, and then they were quiet, waiting for the Professor Dumbledore to speak. 

'Are Miss Gilles and Mr Pettigrew interested in being involved?'

They stared at him for a moment, and then remembered that Jo's last name was Gilles. 

'Er- I know Jo is. I'm not sure about Peter.'

'Yeah, he mentioned something about it…said he was busy today, though.'

'Oh, yeah, Jo said she had to work today -it's her first day, see, and she couldn't miss it,' Lily explained. 

Dumbledore smiled, and then became serious. 'I wanted to know if you four would be interested in working on a project I've only just stared, with some other people around your age.'

They nodded, and Dumbledore continued. 

'It involves tracking down Death Eaters- Voldemort's supporters- but, before we capture them, we will try to find out as much as we can about them. I need you four, because you have some skills that will be greatly appreciated. You're all talented in different fields of magic.'

'What exactly will we be doing?' Lily asked, ignoring Sirius, who was now eating caramel filled chocolates. 

'I'll explain in more detail tomorrow- are all of you free?'

'Um…yeah, I am,' James said, trying to remember. 'I've got to go to this Auror thing later on, though. And I've got Quidditch training in the evening.'

Lily turned to look at James. _'Quidditch_? Huh?'

'Um…I've been accepted onto the English team,' James said, not looking her in the eye.

Lily put her hands on her hips. 'Oh?' How come you didn't tell me?'

'Okay, okay,' Remus interrupted. 'James'll talk to you later, Kermit. Let's just say we're all free, Jo is as well, she told me the other day that she works everyday except Wednesdays and weekends.'

'Thankyou, Mr Lupin. If you could be here at noon, it would be very much appreciated.'

'Okay…will there be food?'

Lily rolled her eyes. 'Sirius, if you eat another thing you'll explode. I don't want your guts all over me, thanks very much. Stop being a pig.'

Dumbledore laughed. 'I'll see you all tomorrow- Mr Potter, could I talk to you in private for a moment?'

James looked surprised, but he nodded, and the others left to wait outside, shooting curious glances at him. 

'James. You and Sirius are training to be Aurors, are you?'

'Well, we're thinking about it. We want to do something, and we have to get money somehow. Sirius's parents are refusing to lend him money, so we're all sort of starving.'

'I'm afraid I cannot pay you,' Dumbledore said. 'But, if you could tell me what they are teaching you at your Auror training, I'd be very grateful. We need to be up to date with how the Ministry is running things- we can't find out things later, and certainly not after the newspaper has printed it.'

James looked thoughtful. 'Jo's working for the Daily Prophet, she'd probably be able to tell us stuff as well.'

Dumbledore stroked his long silver beard, nodding. 'Have you heard what exactly the Aurors do?'

'Well, not exactly. I know they track down Death Eaters, and help trial them.'

'Do you know how the Ministry is doing this?'

'No, not yet. Don't any of the older people here know?'

'Some do. But most of the people are just friends, I do have a few contacts at the Ministry, but they're busy today.'

'I could ask Dad to help, he knows heaps of people.'

Professor Dumbledore smiled at him. 'Thankyou, James. You're friends will be very curious as to what we're talking about, I'm sure, so I'll let you be off. My, are these chocolate amphibian sticks? I haven't seen one of these in years.'

As James left to go back to Lily and Remus and Sirius, he noticed a large crimson frog hopping around…it had a beard. 

***

'Sirius, get a job.' Jo said the next morning when she found Sirius sitting in their kitchen, eating cornflakes. 

'What?' He mumbled, spraying milk everywhere. 

Jo wiped a cornflake off her pyjama top. 'Do you _still_ not have food at your place?'

'Oh, yeah, we've got food. But James forgot the milk, and I really felt like cereal this morning.'

Jo rolled her eyes. 'Are you coming to the meeting today?'

Sirius swallowed. 'Yup. You?'

'Uh huh.' Jo poured some cornflakes for herself, and was eating them when Lily came in, looking grumpy. 

'What's up with you?' Jo asked- she hadn't been present when Lily blew up at James the day before. 

'Nothing, nothing. I'm happy. Very happy.'

'You're in denial.'

'As if I am!' Lily said, rummaging through the cupboard. 'Where's the cornflakes? Don't tell me there's none left. Great. Just great. You know, Sirius, you could eat at your own house and then there might be food left for people who actually live here.'

'You could go to our house for something if you want.'

Lily glared at him. 'I would go over there if you paid me.' She said crossly, and they watched her stomp furiously out the room.

'Are you going to the meeting today?' Jo called.

They could hear Lily stomping around in her room, and then heard something smash, followed by Lily's angry cursing. 

'Yes.' Was the reply. 'As long as he's not there!'

'He will be.' Sirius called through the keyhole, under Jo's instructions- she didn't want the whole house to blow up, though Sirius didn't know how this was going to help. 

'Then I'm not going!' 

Sirius opened the door and found it in not too bad a state, considering. 

'Oh, come on Lily. Just sit on the other side of the room, it's a very big room.'

Lily flopped down onto her bed with her face in the pillow. 

'I'm never speaking to him again.'

'Okay.'

'I'd like to turn his hair blue.'

'It'd be an improvement.'

'Really?'

'No, I'm just trying to cheer you up.'

Lily chucked the hardest thing she could find at him, her alarm clock.

***

Later that morning, Sirius was having much the same conversation with James, only James was lying depressed on the couch, not a bed. 

'I'm never speaking to her again…it isn't my fault she doesn't like flying.'

'It's called a fear of heights.'

'Whose side are you on here?'

'Oh, yours of course, Prongs…Are you coming to the meeting this afternoon?'

'Not if she's going to be there.'

'She is.'

'Then I'm not going.'

'Yeah, that's what Lily said.'

'Don't say her name.'

'Okay, okay. So sit on the other side of the room to her, why don't you?'

'Maybe,' James mumbled. He glanced up at Sirius and stared at him. 'What happened to your head?'

'Oh. Er- Lily- I mean, _she_ kind of got mad at me…I tell you, those clock things really do hurt, no wonder Lianne said it was painful.'

James just snorted and buried his head a cushion, mumbling something about time and women not going well together. 

***

Lily glared at James as she and Jo entered the room underground, but he turned and ignored her, instead he watched Sirius, who (again) was eyeing the food table. 

Jo was looking at Sirius, but- to Lily's amazement- she wasn't put off by the amount of food the object of her affections was scoffing down, just puzzled. 'He didn't use to do that last year, did he?'

'What? Be a complete loser?'

Jo tore her eyes away from Sirius and stared at Lily. _'What_? I'm not talking about James, you idiot!'

Lily shrugged, but then, to everyone's relief, Dumbledore appeared and wanted to start immediately. 

'Welcome, all. I'm going straight to the point, as I am needed at the school. 

'You eight will be our undercover detectives. We have several other people undercover, but their situations are much more dangerous, and if word got out they would undoubtedly be killed, so I'm afraid I cannot say who they are.

'You will be working in groups, only part time, as I know you will need to work for money as well. If you do happen to work overtime, I will be glad to offer you money for your troubles, I don't want you going hungry.' His blue eyes glanced in Sirius's direction at this comment, twinkling with laughter. 

'I will assign the groups to you in a moment, first I would like to explain exactly what you will be doing. Firstly, I want to see you working as a _team. _If two people are having troubles outside of work I don't want it interfering. 

'Secondly, you will not be able to tell anyone outside of work what you are doing, unless they are specifically involved. 

'You will be tracking down Voldemort's people. In your teams, you will follow them in secret, record everything you discover, and take photographs and collect evidence. Some of you are trained in defence- or will be trained, and you will help capture them if need be. If we have solid evidence, we will hand them over to the ministry. 

'We will hand whoever we catch to the ministry. You will most likely _not_ receive praise or recognition for who you catch, much the opposite. If the Death Eaters were to discover what you were doing, you would undoubtedly be tracked down and killed. So therefore we will leave them to the experts.' 

Lily was sure she heard a hint of sarcasm in Professor Dumbledore's voice, but she didn't say anything.

'Are there any questions? Does anybody think they will not be able to cope with this? If so, I ask you to leave now.'

No one moved. 

'Right then. In group one, there will be Lily Cooper, Remus Lupin, Kylie McEvoy, and James Potter.' Both Lily and James groaned, but Dumbledore ignored them. 'In group two, Sirius Black, Jo Gilles, Amanda Fire and Miranda Whitehorn.'

'I'm the only boy?' Sirius protested, sounding like a ten-year-old boy, instead of someone who'd just turned eighteen. 

'Sirius, I thought you'd be delighted!' Lily called from across the room. 'All those girls.'

Sirius snorted. 

'That will be all for today, you can talk for as long as you want down here, get to know each other. The password to move the log is 'whippersnipper.' 

'Whippersnipper?' Lily whispered, raising her eyebrows. 

'I would like to see group one on Tuesday and group two on Wednesday, is that okay with all of you?'

They all said yes, and then Dumbledore left, saying that he was sure Mr McIntyre had probably 'accidentally' blown something- or someone- up.

Lily said hi and then goodbye to everyone -all except James- and then she left, not wanting to be within a mile of James for over half an hour. 

***

Rowena stared at the wall, trying to make sense of her dreams. She usually forgot about them during the days- you couldn't pass a Transfiguration test with James Potter on your mind, you'd probably end up thinking about turning McGonagall into a fruit bat or something. But it was a Divination lesson, and it wasn't like there was anything better for her to do. 

Maybe he was…a relative of James's? The idea lit up in her head, and wouldn't go away, so she tried to make sense of it. Maybe he was a cousin…but those eyes. They were very pretty eyes, almost glowing whenever the boy smiled. Like emeralds. She sighed, fiddling with her quill. Joey glanced up from his crystal ball. 'Seen anything, Ro?'

'What? Oh. No, I haven't.'

'Have you _looked_?'

Rowena rolled her eyes, but then looked into her ball. Usually, it just looked like the grounds on a very cold morning, but today the mist swirled into a picture, full of colour. She stared into it's depths, amazed, and almost positive of what she was about to see. 

And, of course, the face of James Potter appeared in the centre of it all, people around him, talking to him, lifting him up on their shoulders. It looked like a replay of last year when Gryffindor won the Quidditch Cup, only Sirius Black wasn't commentating on an over large pair of underwear in the background. The same boy and girl as before, the boy with red hair, the girl with brown, were there, laughing and jumping about in excitement. 

This scene faded away, and a new one melted into its place, this time of a woman with long red hair. She was poking her tongue out at someone- they weren't in view of the camera, and she was surrounded by lots of little gadgets, in some sort of underground place…in the picture, her face shone, almost glowing with light, and Rowena saw her eyes…exact copies of the boy in her dreams eyes. 

It was Lily Cooper. 

What the hell was Lily Cooper doing in her crystal ball? Well, she was obviously doing something, though Rowena couldn't figure out what…she watched as Lily waved her wand lazily, then burst into laughter. 

The scene in the crystal moved over to what Lily was laughing at, and she saw James Potter with his hands on his hips, wearing a frilly dress. 

This was no ordinary day in Divination. 

***

The next day, group one sat in the underground room, looking at all the stuff that had accumulated in there since the day before. Hundreds of little gadgets, maps, huge rolls of parchment, quills- everything an office could possibly need. 

Lily was talking to Kylie McEvoy, a girl who had been in the same year as them, only in Ravenclaw. 

'How come you and James aren't talking?' Kylie asked curiously, and she glanced over to the other side of the room to where James and Remus stood. 

Lily would have liked to say 'curiosity killed the cat,' but she didn't, because Remus's own cat, the ugly but very much loved Crookshanks, had run away the previous night. Lily found it hard to find sympathy for Remus, as she hadn't exactly been fond of the monster, but she then realised that she didn't need to, as James had entered the room, so (obviously) she had to leave. 

Lily realised Kylie was still waiting for an answer. 

'Oh…no reason.' Lily said vaguely, fully aware that it was a complete lie. 

'Yeah, right.'

Luckily for Lily, Dumbledore entered the room then, and he gave them their instructions. 

'You will be tracking the Death Eaters. I chose the four of you to be in this particular group for various reasons. I believe all of you can fly?'

They nodded, and Lily scowled at James. 

'Yes…' Dumbledore appeared to be thinking to himself. 'And I suppose all of you have mastered the invisibility charm?'

'Yeah.'

'Yes, that will be quite useful…though I'm sure they will have tracking devices for that sort of thing, as we will…Now, Lily, there are a few things I would like you to charm for me, is that okay?'

'Yup.'

'Hmm…are you free all the rest of this week?'

'Er- no, I've got to go to work on- hang on a minute.' Lily looked at something in her bag and then straitened up. 'I've got work on Friday, but I'm free the rest of the week, is that okay?'

'Yes, that's fine. Kylie, would you be able to help Lily?'

Kylie nodded, and then grinned at Lily. 

'I'll speak to James and Remus in private, but I'll inform both you girls of it sooner or later, depending on how they go.'

'How come we don't get to know?' Lily asked.

'Because you don't.' James said in reply, poking out his tongue. 

Remus raised his eyebrows and nudged James. 'You looked so much like a six-year-old then, it was scary.'

James shrugged. 

***

Jo stared at the wall, wondering how many cracks there were in the paint…one, two, three…she gave up at fifty, because it was depressing and because she realised how pathetic it was. She practically leapt for joy at the sound of the doorbell, and when she answered she could only be thankful that Lily was working that afternoon. 

James stepped inside, holding a sheet of paper. 

'You're back _again_?' Jo said in disbelief. 'Haven't you told her yet?

'No,' James mumbled. 

'Oh, come _on_. Otherwise she'll go and marry that guy who works in the ice-cream shop.'

'What guy?' 

'Oh. No guy. James, just tell her already, and no- no way. I'm not listening to that horrible poem once more, not if you paid me.'

'It isn't _that_ bad, is it?'

'Trust me on this one. It is.'

James sighed. 'Well, it was Sirius who wrote it anyway.'

'He did?' Jo snatched away the piece of paper. 'Awww…I didn't know he was a poet.'

James crossed his arms over his chest. 'I thought you just said it was awful.'

'Huh? Yeah, it is. But if _Sirius_ wrote it, it puts a different light on it.'

James stared at her, wondering about her sanity. 'You know, you could always tell Sirius that you love him.'

'Me? Love Sirius? I don't love Sirius.'

James snorted. 'I'm going to find Kermit. Bye.'

Jo dropped the paper onto the floor and stared at the place where James had been a moment ago. 'How come _she_ gets the guy who really loves her and'll get his best friend to write a poem for her _because_ he loves her, and I get the guy who has barely even noticed me, except perhaps for the fact that my freezer is full of choc chip ice cream?' She buried her face in a cushion, and barely heard the knock on the door. 

Jo sighed, hoping it wasn't James with another poem, and then she opened the door. 

'Sirius?'

'Hello!'

'Hi…want some ice cream?' _Stupid, stupid, stupid. _

'Nah, I'm not hungry.'

Jo closed the door, wondering if this was some weird and very scary kind of hallucination. 

***

Lily sat at a table, trying to figure out how to make jellybeans grow legs and dance. She didn't see the person come through the door, or see Alanna, the girl she was working with, flirt with him, or hear the disappointment in her voice when she found out he was there for Lily.

'Hey, Lil.'

Lily looked up and saw them both. She immediately ducked under her table on an impulse, and then sat there for a moment, wondering what she should do. 

She heard footsteps approaching, and groaned. She knew whose footsteps they were. 

'How come you're under the table?'

'Oh, I'm- um…looking for an earring.'

'I didn't know you had pierced ears.' Lily could tell the stupid git was smiling. 

'Um…they're the stick on kind.'

'Right. So you going to come out any time soon?'

'Not if you don't leave any time soon.'

'Okay. I'll wait for you outside.'

Lily heard his footsteps go out the door, and she heard the door close. She climbed out from under the table, and saw Alanna giving her a very weird look. 

'Why, pray tell, did you do that? Do you usually do that when a _very_ cute guy enters the room?'

'That cute guy,' Lily hissed. 'Is _James_.'

'Oh! James! Well then, off you go.'

'What? What about the-'

'I'll do that. Off you go, come on.' 

Alanna started pushing her towards the door. Once outside, James gave them a huge grin. 'Are you busy the rest of the afternoon?' He asked Lily. 

'Yes.'

'No, it'll be fine, don't worry about it. Bye, Lily.' Alanna closed the door behind her. 

'Why are you speaking to me again?' Lily asked after a few moments.

'I was having this problem.'

'What problem?'

'Well...you see, there's this girl, and I really do love her, but we had this stupid fight and she wasn't speaking to me. So I thought I'd ask you for advice.'

Lily stared at him. 'Oh. What- what kind of advice?' 

'Can we go somewhere where your friend isn't looking at us through the curtains?'

'Yeah…'

***

'I am in love.' Lily announced upon setting foot in their apartment. 

Jo barely looked up from her bowl of noodles. She slurped, swallowed and then pushed the bowl away. 

'No shit.' Then she shovelled another load of noodles into her mouth.

'Well. That wasn't quite the reaction I was expecting…' Lily trailed off. 

'Come off it, Lily Cooper-soon-to-be-known-as-Potter.'

Lily snorted. 

'It's only taken you- what? Three years? Five? A decade?' 

'Whatever.' Lily plopped down onto the couch. 

'So. Why aren't you mad at him any more? What'd he do?' 

'Well. There was this poem and he- er- yeah.'

__

'Just the poem?' Jo grinned. 

Lily turned pink. 'No…'

Jo started laughing and Lily turned bright red. Her hand was wedged between two cushions, and she appeared to be looking for something. 

'Why'd the poem- and whatever else he did- make you like him again? Or fall in love with him? Or whatever? I'm a bit confused…Besides…that poem was awful.' 

'It _wasn't_…Okay, it was…It was absolutely terrible. How'd you know?' 

'Come on, Lily. He had to practise. He's been coming round here everyday, because Sirius and Remus kicked him out. They were ready to kill him.' She giggled. 'The first time he was here he'd been gagged. Anyway, I could repeat the whole thing to you word-perfect.' 

'Please don't.'

Both girls sat in silence for a moment, and Lily's expression grew puzzled. 'Hey Jo?' 

'Mmm?' 

'Where's the chocolate? I thought we'd hidden it here…' She turned and pulled the cushion up, sticking her head under to look. 

'Oops. Um, Sirius kind of discovered it.'

'Great. Know what we have to do now?' 

'Find a new hiding place?' 

'Well, I was thinking more along the lines of not letting Sirius in here-' she ducked Jo's hand- 'but I suppose that'll do.' 

They lay back again, with Lily humming a tune under her breath and Jo flipping through a magazine.

'Why were you and James fighting, anyway?'

'Um…I don't remember.' Lily said sheepishly. 

Jo rolled her eyes. 

'So have you told Sirius?' Lily asked. 

'Told Sirius what?'

__

'Jo. You are both mental. Just go over there, throw yourself at him, and I'm sure he'll get the point. Either that or he'll chuck you out, but I seriously doubt that'd happen.'

'Thanks for that.'

'Look. James told me that he's been dreaming about you. The only reason he comes over here for food is _because_ he loves you. He kisses his pillow in his sleep.'

'Now I'm scared.'

'Jo, if you want to save us all from dying of hunger, you'll go over there and tell him.'

Jo sat still for a moment, and then she stood up. 'I er- borrowed something from Remus…I'll just go get it.'

Lily grinned. 'Have fun!'

Jo slammed the door behind her. 

Some things are mine, some aren't you figure out what's what. If I owe you an email, our email thing is currently stuffed- sorry Maria, I don't know what's wrong with it. I completely forgot about Crookshanks, to tell you the truth…I forget about a lot of things. 

Padfoot- no, I'm not British and I don't know about dying things different colours, but I do like drawing on tables. J


	4. the fooooourth.

Jeepers. You peoples are very insistent, aren't you? I can't write well when I'm not around people, for some strange reason (I've been sick)…cause I use a lot of things and situations from real life and adapt them- er- kind of, anyway. Thanks very much to _everyone_ who's reviewed- you're all so kind. I really, really don't want to kill Lily and James…Lone Astronomer, you depressed me! Why Lily? _Why_, I ask you? 

****

Just As Long As We're Together

Chapter 4

The next day, Lily woke up early to the sound of birds twittering noisily outside her window. She groaned loudly, and wondered briefly for a moment if anyone would notice if she exploded a few of them to scare the rest off. Lily really wasn't a morning person. 

'Rise and shine!' 

__

James? 

Lily muttered something grumpily, threw her covers off the bed and slumped out to the kitchen, running her fingers through her hair trying to at least get rid of a few knots. 

'Ouch!' She muttered furiously as her finger got caught on a particularly stubborn tangle. James glanced up from his breakfast- the last of the frootloops, of course- and grinned sleepily, spilling milk all over the tablecloth. 

'Kermit, your hand's in your hair,' he pointed out intelligently. 

She ignored him, and yanked her finger out, shrieking in the process. 

'Why not use a brush?' James asked innocently, as Lily's hair was far longer than his, and in the morning it held an amazing resemblance to either a very windblown weeping willow or a birds nest. 

She couldn't be bothered wasting her breath, and somehow managed to restrain herself from snapping at him. He never looked at if he'd picked up so much as a comb before. 

'What's up with you today?' 

For a moment Lily wondered if she'd been asleep for a few days, because James certainly hadn't been there when she went to sleep the night before. Or had he? She glanced at him suspiciously. 

'What?' He mumbled through a mouthful of milk, orange juice and frootloops. 

She wrinkled her nose and started rifling through the fridge, still not 100% awake. She didn't notice she still hadn't answered him, it hadn't occurred to her to actually open her mouth. 

James was getting quite concerned. 'Are you sleep walking?'

She turned around with a carton of milk and sat down on the table to drink it straight out the carton. Lily gulped, put the milk down, wiped her mouth and sighed. 'I'm awake.'

'My mother always got mad at me for doing that,' he commented lightly, shovelling down more food. 

She took a few more sips, and then smiled at him brightly. 'Good morning, Potter.' She said cheerfully. Milk had that effect. 

He blinked for a moment behind his glasses. 'Morning, miss Cooper. And how are you feeling this morning?'

She yawned. 'Tired. Why are you here?' Lily twisted herself around to face the general direction of the bedrooms. 'Where's Jo?'

James looked thoughtful for a moment (rare occasion, this.) 'Last time I saw them they were eating ice cream…strawberry, I think. I know Sirius had a whole lot of red goop over his face.' 

Lily giggled and then choked on her milk, spraying liquid all over James, the table, the floor, and the cat. _Cat?_ She sneezed. 

'Why's there a cat?'

James glanced down, and saw the cute little orange tabby gaze up at him sweetly. 'Oh…dunno. Maybe you left a window open.'

She rolled her eyes. 'And cats can fly, can they?'

The cat meowed, blinked, and suddenly reappeared up on top of the fridge. 

'Magical cats can,' James informed her, nodding. 

'Thanks, Potter.'

James bowed-, which looked quite funny, considering he was sitting at a table- and then he looked at her, puzzled. 'How come you're always calling me Potter?'

'Habit. Potter sounds better than James anyway, don't you think?'

James stared at her from behind his round glasses for a moment, concern in his brown eyes. 'I hate to think what you'll call your poor little kiddies. I really do.'

Lily smiled. 'I like the name Harry.'

'I s'pose it's better than some names…why are we talking about this?'

'I forget,' Lily said, sticking out her tongue and shaking the rest of the milk into her mouth energetically. 

James watched her with an amused expression on his face. 'You have milk on your cheek,' he said, leaning back in his chair. 

'Er- James-' 

A loud crash resounded throughout the tiny house. 

__

Well, the birds are gone. 

'I think I have broken back,' James muttered, wincing as he tried to stand. 

Lily jumped off the table, and, once she'd managed to control her giggles, she knelt down to help him. 

'Some girlfriend you are,' he muttered, pouting. 'I'm in pain here.'

'Come on, I'll help you walk.'

'We could just sit here together,' he suggested hopefully. 

Lily pulled him to his feet. 

'Sympathetic.' 

'Oh, you want sympathy?' She gave him a big bear hug, cooing as if he were a baby. 

James struggled away, pulling a face. He put his hands on his hips and glared at her, saying in a high, silly voice 'I hate you!' 

Lily raised her eyebrows. 'Who was that supposed to be?'

'You,' James said simply. 

Lily tackled him to the floor, with a sudden strength not usually present in her at 7:30 in the morning. 

'Ow! Ow! Hey, that wasn't fair!' Lily whined as James pinned her down, grinning, obviously very pleased with himself. 

'Do I get a prize?' He asked, laughing as Lily struggled to get free. 

'I thought you were in pain?' She said grumpily, blowing his hair out her eyes. She was about to say something else, but as James kissed her then, it was rather difficult. 

'Morning, Kermit, Prongs,' came the cheerful voice of Sirius. 

James rolled off Lily and turned to smile at his best friend, who was grinning like he'd just found a pot of galleons. He found it quite enjoyable to interrupt them. 

'Morning, Padfoot. And how are you this fine morning?' James was in a very good mood. 

'Great. The birds are singing, the sun is shining-' 

'Sirius is babbling.' 

Sirius pulled a face at Lily. 'Oh, Kermy, Jo's asleep on the couch at our place.' 

'Have good night?' She teased, standing up and brushing of her pyjama pants. And then it hit her that he'd just called her 'Kermy'. She shuddered.

Sirius, to Lily's disappointment, missed her question, as he was gazing at the cat on top of the fridge. 'Awww…and who's this cute little fella?' He lifted the tabby onto his shoulder, cooing. 

'Trust him to lose his marbles right when we're getting to the juicy bit,' Lily muttered, shaking her head at Sirius, who was now rubbing his face into the cats fur. 

Lily sneezed. 

'You weren't allergic to Crookshanks,' James said with surprise, handing Lily a hankie he'd conjured. 

Lily sniffed, backing away from the cat and into the table. 'Ow! I think it's got fleas.' She said, rubbing her elbow. 

Sirius let go of the cat awfully quickly. 'Eeeeeeeeew!'

James snorted. 'Fleas don't make you sneeze, Sirius.'

'Oh.' Sirius frowned for a moment, and then scooped the little creature-, which was now yowling pitifully- up in his arms, apologising in a baby voice, tickling its neck gently. 'You poor little poochie, my wittle sweetie pie.' 

James was slowly moving backwards, his eyebrows raised. 'I've seen Sirius do many odd things, including kissing Lydia Manchester in third grade. But this scares me.'

Lily was amused. 'Who's Lydia Manchester?' 

'A blonde haired little thing. We were playing kiss chasey-'

Lily snorted. 

'And he chased her behind the girls toilets where she was cornered.'

'You think the cat's hypnotised him?' 

'Nah. We're just witnessing his feminine side.' James was now searching for some kind of camera. 

'Does he have a name?' Sirius asked, abandoning the kitty for a moment. 

Lily shrugged. 

James was still looking for the camera. 

'How 'bout Muffins?' 

Lily shrugged. 

James held up the camera. 'Say cheese!' 

Sirius gave a big, cheesy grin, holding Muffins up onto his head. He winced. 'Owie. He's pulling my hair.' 

Both Lily and James ignored him, Lily because her head was in the freezer looking for the bread and James because he was watching Lily with interest. 

'You look different in pants,' he commented. 

'What he means is that you have nice ass.' Sirius translated eyeing Lily's lower half. 

Lily whacked him with the loaf of frozen bread and then considered whacking James, but decided against it. 'Do you have any peanut butter at your place? We've run out.'

Sirius rubbed his head vigorously and didn't answer, while James wrinkled his nose. 'Yuck. Peanuts.'

'How 'bout jam?'

'Jam? We've got jam.'

Lily looked at James worriedly. 'Why, exactly, are you looking at me like I've sprouted tentacles?' She then checked to make sure she hadn't grown tentacles. 

'Oh…no reason.'

Lily snorted, but went back to looking for something to go on her toast, Sirius's moans of agony in the background, at least, until he realised no one cared and gave up. 

***

Rowena Archer watched the snowflakes flutter down to the ground. 

'Something very weird is going on here,' she muttered to herself. 

'You can say that again,' her best friend, Joey, grumbled. 'Look! How could I get Jupiter on this stupid chart, huh? I was born in August, you crazy thing, August!'

Rowena stared at him for a moment, and then shook her head. 'That wasn't quite what I meant.'

Joey didn't answer, as he was far to busy yelling at his Divination homework. 

She had always known he was a bit unstable. 

Turning back to the window, she tried to remember the dream she'd had the night before. But nothing would come to her, except a flash of green light…maybe Joey was going to blow something up, she mused, leaning against the window pane, her breath making a mark on the glass. 

Joey's furious yells interrupted her thoughts. 'No, you demented thing! August! August, not September!' 

He hit the parchment with his wand, and it burst into flames. 

Joey stared at it for several seconds. Then he smiled, pleased with himself. 

'Yes. That's much better.' 

__

Why do I get the psychotic freaks as friends, huh? 

'Hey, Ro, you got any spare parchment?'

She handed him the parchment, eyeing the pile of ash on his table, and then went back to the fascinating task of watching the nicely cool snowy weather develop into a storm. 

'Oops.'

She sighed, and handed him another quill without bothering to look. He accepted it gratefully, and for the next few moments they were quiet, the only sounds coming from the scratching of the quill on parchment and the occasional hiccup from Joey. 

Which was why, perhaps, she lapsed into a sleepy state and started dreaming. 

__

It was a sunny day, which was the first thing she noticed, as it was quite strange for this time of year. But it obviously wasn't winter- unless in some places winter was sunny, with the trees bright with colours. It was most likely spring, and if she could have smelt the air Rowena was sure it was have smelt like heather and grass. She loved the smell of freshly cut grass. For a time the area with the trees was free of people, until some figures bounded into the space. Rowena watched them curiously, but, as usual, they couldn't see her. 

Their voices were fuzzy and hard to understand but the faces of the people were clear, and she recognised a few of them. One, a tall girl with dark hair was watching a girl with red hair and was laughing at the redhead's antics. The dark haired girl ducked as a piece of some kind of food came flying in her direction, and it hit the boy who had been sneaking up on her. 

Rowena caught a few of the curse words that followed, and wondered briefly why she could understand that, but not anything else. 

The boy who had thrown whatever it was started laughing, and said something to the boy sitting next to him, who had light brown hair and grey eyes that sparkled in the sunlight, enjoying this live and completely free performance. 

The red haired girl jumped up then, and dragged the food thrower with her, pulling him over to a swing. A few moments later she was flying high in the sky, the boy watching her with an almost worried expression on his face. Rowena strained to hear his words. 

'I can't believe she'll do this and she won't fly a broomstick…'

She missed the girls answer, but it wasn't hard to figure out what she was saying, as whatever it was, it was accompanied by a kick (which missed the boys' head by inches).

The girl on the swing faded away, and was replaced by a short and very skinny boy, sitting at a desk in a classroom, quite like her own classroom. Very, very like, in fact. Right up to the posters on the wall. It was, obviously, Professor Binns' classroom. 

There were very few students actually present, only the boy, and he sat reading, and he as he appeared to be quite intrigued with whatever book it was, it was most likely that he wasn't studying History of Magic. 

He bore a strange resemblance to the boy in the first dream, and somewhere in Rowena's head a little light blub clicked and turned on. Well, it would have if she had a light bulb in her head. 

She was about to come up with a theory on her new found revelations when Joey woke her up with an unusually loud hiccup and a question to go with it. 

'What's so funny? You started giggling in your sleep, I thought you were gonna drool or something.' He grinned cheekily. 'Were you dreaming of that Hufflepuff guy?' 

Rowena started at Joey for a moment, and, after checking for drool on her chin, she wondered why Joey had realised the Hufflepuff guy was cute.

***

The eight young men and women that were helping Dumbledore sat in the underground room, chatting and laughing playfully, as the Professor had not yet arrived. 

Sirius was flirting with Miranda Whitehorn, oblivious to the fact that Jo was glaring that the two of them, looking as though she wished the ground would swallow them up. 

James and Lily were talking quietly- a good deal closer to each other than they actually needed to be, Remus was telling Amanda Fire a joke, and Kylie McEvoy was going over the papers they'd written up, looking up occasionally to laugh at Sirius standing on his head (a dare from James) or to see Lily whack James on the nose, but then immediately kiss it better for fear of actually hurting him. 

They were going to start working with everyone else as a proper league- Dumbledore had decided it was too difficult having his younger members cut off from what was going on. 

When Professor Dumbledore finally did enter, he was accompanied by a woman older than them, though not as old as him, and when she saw Lily standing on a chair trying to escape James and emus going into the actions of his joke (which obviously involved someone eating worms, according to his facial expressions) she looked quite sure these young people were not capable of helping defeat Lord Voldemort. 

But they were. 

The next part really, truly will be longer, I'm sorry this is short. People keep asking me questions in reviews, and I always forget to answer them- sorry about that. It gets very confusing. But one person asked (ages and ages ago) if I watched _Seachange_, because I used a scene from it- and yes, I do. I love that show; it's my absolute favourite. No, I don't have a boyfriend and I've never once written a love letter before, I guess it's just talent *grins*. I got a bit freaked out when I was asked that. Thankyou everyone- every single one of you- who has reviewed or emailed me or anything, sorry if I don't answer a question or something, most likely I've just forgotten about it. 

Nothing is mine, except a few characters and they're really not worth it. 

Oh! I am writing another series (10 Things I Hate About You) but it is not in any way related to this, except maybe for a few characters names. It's a purely L/J story, nothing like The Flower and the Stag, so forget about that when I write it. 

Please give criticism, ideas, opinions, poems (hmm…that would be funny) and whatever else you like in the box underneath this. J


	5. number five. cinq. goh.

****

Just As Long As We're Together

Chapter 5

The woman standing next to Dumbledore looked around at the eight of them, frowning. Her hair was quite white, and compared to Lily's fiery red locks, or James's black hair, she looked rather out of place, or she would have if she hadn't been standing next to Dumbledore. 

Her eyes glanced from Remus, who was now sitting down next to Amanda, whose hand was over her mouth, trying to muffle the sound of laughter. Lily had plopped into James's lap and his arms were around her waist, his head leaning on her shoulder, watching Dumbledore and waiting for them to be introduced. 

Jo was still glaring at Sirius, and Sirius and Miranda had finally stopped flirting with one another- partly because Sirius had made eye contact with Jo, and partly because of their company. 

She pursed her lips, and she too waited for Dumbledore to speak. Why he had chosen these people, she had no idea. 

'Arabella, this is Lily Evans, James Potter-' (James bowed, bending Lily forwards in the process) '-Remus Lupin, Amanda Fire, Jo Gilles, Sirius Black and Miranda Whitehorn. This is Arabella Figg.'

There was a loud chorus of 'hellos' and then Dumbledore got down to business. Arabella's eyes stayed on James and Lily, who looked quite comfortable. James caught her eye, and grinned charmingly. She ignored him and turned back to Dumbledore. 

'Arabella, I'd like you to show James, Lily and Remus around our headquarters, I'll take the rest.' 

Sirius winked at them. 

'We will be meeting here tomorrow evening at a quarter past five- is that alright with everyone?'

They nodded, Dumbledore smiled, and then Lily and James and Remus followed Arabella, while the others stayed with Dumbledore. 

Once outside, Lily looked at her older companion curiously. 'How come we're with you, not anyone else?'

James nudged her playfully. 'Don't want to be with me, eh?'

Arabella continued walking. 'I'm not really sure. He was under the impression the three of you work quite well together.' 

James raised his eyebrows and looked at Lily. _Under the impression?_ He mouthed silently. Remus snorted with laughter, because he was quite sure of what was going on in Arabella Figg's mind. 

She shrugged. 

During the rest of the walk- it took at least an hour to get to wherever it was they were going- James walked into about three rosebushes, and Arabella went on and on about her cats. By the time they sat down for a break, Lily was quite sure she was insane. 

'Where are we going?' Remus asked for the fifth time, stepping carefully over a ditch in the path. When Lily had pulled James out of the ditch, they ran to catch up, only to find Arabella was now tell Remus (in detail) the daily resume of her cat Pooka. 

Lily rolled her eyes and plucked a flower from a bush, fiddling with it. 

__

He loves me, he loves me not- Lily, what **are** you doing? She shook her head and tossed what was left of the flower onto the ground. James slung his arm around her shoulder, humming cheerfully. She backed away, wondering if James was allergic to the wildlife. But before she could ask him, Arabella stopped by a large building and unlocked the door. 

James and Remus looked around while Lily talked to Arabella for a moment about locking charms. 'This place is creepy,' James commented, peeking around a doorway. 

Remus nodded and sneezed. 

Lily started up the staircase while Arabella re-locked all the doors. 

'What's with all the secrecy?' James asked, rifling through a box. 

Lily rolled her eyes. 'James, idiot, d'you want Death Eaters walking in on us?' 

James stopped. 'Oh…yeah.'

Remus and Lily exchanged a glance. 'Are you okay today Prongs? You've been off with the fairies lately.' 

James just opened another box in reply, sending up a cloud of dust. 

'Ooh, look. It's, um…stuff.' 

Lily peered over his shoulder. 'Yay, stuff. Come on, let's go upstairs, that's where the office is.' 

Remus glanced at her, his eyebrows raised. 'How'd you know?'

'I was listening to Arabella.'

'You have ears?'

Lily stared at James for a moment, but before she could point out he was quite obviously deranged, or before she could ask if he'd been dropped on his head as a toddler (it was quite possible) Arabella had returned, her wrinkled face grumpy, white hair knotty and windblown from being outside. 

'Which is why,' James said knowledgably, winking at Remus 'I always carry a hairbrush.' 

Lily looked at him for a moment, seriously considering whether or not she should call a psychiatrist. She decided against it, mainly because it had started to rain. 

'Do you actually own a hairbrush?' Remus asked as the four of the walked slowly up the creaky old stairs, holding onto the banister for fear of them collapsing underneath- not that holding onto the banister would do much good, probably just prevent them from- no, it wouldn't do any good. 

James sniffed, following Arabella into a room that actually looked modern- no dust bunnies leaping out from every corner, no creaky floorboards. A cauldron was placed in one corner, a potion bubbling away tirelessly, occasionally spitting out poisonous looking globs of slimy green stuff, burning little holes in the floor. 

__

Don't go near the cauldron. Was the first thought that entered Lily's mind. The second was _James doesn't own a hairbrush, does he?_

'Do you have a hairbrush?'

James pouted, slouching in a chair well away from the hissing cauldron. 'Course I do.' Self-consciously, he patted the back of his head, smoothing down the clumps that were sticking straight up. Of course, they immediately sprang back up again, much to Remus and Lily's amusement. 

'Aw, don't worry James,' Lily said, patting his head. 'We still love you.' 

James grinned stupidly. 

Remus wrinkled his nose. 'Speak for yourself.'

Arabella cleared her throat before James could ask why Remus didn't love him. 

'Albus- Professor Dumbledore- has asked me to explain today what we do.'

'Fight Death Eaters?'

She glared at James, who smiled sweetly at her. 

'May I continue?'

'You may,' James said graciously. 

Lily groaned, and elbowed him hard. When James had stopped sniffing, Arabella continued. 

'I, personally, do not know why Albus chose you three- of course, your academic records are very high, but so far, I have seen no common sense, in fact, no sense whatsoever.' 

James, Lily and Remus all bristled at these comments, and sat a little straighter in their seats. 

What could possibly have been a smile passed briefly across the old woman's face. Lily was sure she must have imagined it, because a few moments later her face was just as stern as ever. 

'The eight of you will be working with older members, and with each other. It's a similar job to what the Aurors do- but you will not be paid, as Dumbledore has already made clear. Is anyone here actually an Auror?'

They shook their heads, and Lily looked at James questioningly. 

'It was boring,' he explained. 'Me and Sirius were stuck in office jobs right from day one- so _boring_.' 

Lily rolled her eyes, but she couldn't help grinning at the image of James sitting behind a desk at the ministry. James and paperwork just didn't seem to go together. 

'This job will not be all trapping Death Eaters and questioning them, I hope you realise,' she said, her croaky voice fierce. 'It's hard work, but not all excitement.' 

James's brown eyes looked quite cold for a moment as he regarded this woman. Then his lopsided grin returned, and he shook his head. 'I don't think it will be,' he explained. 'But I want to actually make a difference, not, as I sad before, trapped behind some cheap wooden desk.'

'How d'you know it was cheap?' Remus inquired, wondering if the desk had a price tag. 

'Ah…I just know these things.' 

'Wasn't the pine wood good enough for you?' 

'How d'you know it was pine?'

Arabella sighed loudly, causing them to look at her. 

'What's that potion over there for?' Lily asked before they could be told again that they were irresponsible- they weren't. They were just slightly off track. 

'It's a tracking device,' Arabella said calmly, also obviously quite pleased with the change of subject. 

James looked quite interested, and he moved forward to look at the cauldron. It gave a particularly loud gurgle, bubbling over onto the ground, creating a large burn, which quickly spread to where James's feet were placed. He leapt back., crashing into Lily, who shrieked loudly. 

Arabella snorted with disapproval, glaring at Lily and James, both of whom were now struggling to stand up, and at Remus who had at first tried to hide his giggles, and then let out a loud yell of laughter, earning him another reproving look. 

Lily had a feeling Arabella was trying to calm down to stop herself from doing anything drastic. Like blow them up. 

'You can go now. Potter, don't go near that potion again until it's ready.'

James looked at the potion curiously. 'What'd happen if I touched it?'

Arabella smiled. 'Probably explode. Or burn…'

She left the building swiftly, calling for them to lock the doors behind them. 

Lily edged towards the door. 'Was she serious?'

'Lily, darling, you're far too gullible. Look, I'll just throw my hat in…' James threw in his hat. There was a loud bang, and a few moments later, bits of shredded hat were lying on the floor. 'Oh. And it explodes.'

Lily blinked. 'Maybe we should go…'

Remus nodded. 'Jolly good.' 

She stared at him. 'Pardon?'

Remus shrugged. 'I think the fumes are getting to my brain,' he explained, shrugging. 

James nodded. 'Yes, off we go.' 

'Shall we skip?' 

Lily gaped at her two friends, who were both skipping merrily out of the doorway and down the overgrown pathway. _Yes, I am friends with lunatics…my God. I've kissed that maniac. Eurgh…but hey, he's pretty good kisser…true, true. _

She locked up the door with several locking charms, to make sure no one could enter. Then she ran to catch up, torn between becoming invisible so no one would see her with them, or skipping with them. 

It really wasn't a very difficult decision. She became invisible and laughed as people riding their bikes past stared at the two adolescents in disbelief. One poor rider was so occupied with them- she was a girl and they were pretty cute- and as a result of all this she crashed directly into a tree. 

***

Rowena Archer rocked back and forth in her chair, twiddling a pen with her finger. 

Professor Sinistra was saying something or other about stars…she wasn't quite sure what, as she'd given up listening after about ten minutes of boring, boring, boring information. 

'Hey, Ro.'

She turned around. 

'Look at this,' Joey McIntosh whispered, his blue eyes glinting in what little light there was in the astronomy tower. 

She rolled her eyes, but took the piece of parchment, unfolded it and then read it. She let out a snort of laughter. 

'Miss Archer?' Sinistra said coldly, advancing on her not so innocent student. 

'Mmm?' She tried to assume an angelic expression, which made Joey snigger. The rest of the class looked on with interest, having woke up from their snoozes. 

'Give me that note,' she held out her hand, her grey eyes cold. 

'Note?'

Professor Sinistra tapped her foot impatiently. 'Hand it over, Archer.' 

Rowena looked at the note in her hand, and then looked up at her teacher, who looked quite menacing and most unlike their usual kind, if not a bit boring astronomy teacher. 

So she stuffed it in her mouth. 

'What note?' It sounded a bit muffled, but the detention was worth it. Better than two detentions, anyhow. 

As they walked out of the classroom, she sidled up next to Joey, who grinned at her. 'Nice move, Archer.' 

She shrugged. 'You owe me. Big time.' 

***

'Oh, _Liiily_!' 

Lily sat up in bed, her green eyes still closed. She forced them open. 

'Sirius?' 

Sirius was sitting on the end of her bed on his knees, grinning cheekily, still wearing his teddy bear pyjamas. She stared at him for a moment. 

'So how are you this fine morning, my darling little Lily?'

Lily looked quite confused for a moment, not to mention sleepy. 'Sirius?' She mumbled again. 

'Yes, Lily, it is Sirius. Hello.'

She rubbed her eyes. 'Hello.'

'Seen James?'

Lily rolled out of bed sleepily. 'I don't usually go to see James in the middle of the night.' 

'You don't?' Sirius handed her the dressing gown hanging behind the door. 

She walked out into the kitchen, glanced at the clock and, when she had blinked several times, she gave a little shriek and ran to the window, shoving the curtains aside. 

'SIRIUS!'

Sirius came out of the bedroom, his eyebrows raised in a strange angelic expression, which really didn't suit him at all. 'You rang?' 

Lily glanced back out the window before she gave another shriek. 'It's 3:00 in the morning!'

'Do you have point, or can I talk now...Hey, Kermy, you've gone a weird sort of purple colour…maybe you should breathe.' 

'I'm going back to bed,' Lily said stiffly after a few moments, glaring at him grumpily. 

'Aww, but I wanted to talk to you.' Sirius whined, following her out. 

'Could we talk when the sun is actually up?'

'It's up!'

Lily sighed as she crawled back into bed, snuggling comfortably under the covers. 'No, darling, it isn't.'

Sirius threw back her covers and crawled under after her. 'I am a wittle darwing, aren't I?' 

Lily rolled onto her side. 'No. You're not. Please leave me alone.' 

'Me? Moi? What are you implying, Miss Evans?'

'That you're a crazy, crazy person.'

Sirius lay on his back gazing up at the ceiling. 'Yes, I've been told that.'

'Wonder why?' 

The two of them lay there for a moment, until Sirius started snoring. Lily leapt out of bed. 

'Sirius, you moron, wake up! Up! Now!'

Sirius either couldn't hear her or chose not to hear her, but either way, he didn't get up. 

Lily stamped her foot, pulled the covers off her bed and wrapped them around herself, trying very hard to push Sirius out in the process- but, sadly, it didn't work. He just lay there curled up with his thumb in his mouth, clutching James the Second tightly under his arm. 

__

'Jo!' 

Jo snapped up in bed, not used to being yelled for very, very early in the morning. 

'Mum?'

Lily stomped into her room, green eyes flashing menacingly. 

Jo lay back in bed. 'Oh, it's only you. What's the time?'

'Time to get up. Go and tell your darling sweetheart to _get out of my bed!' _

'What? James isn't my sweetheart…'

Lily gave a loud yelp. She was, as her friends had realised, quite insane in the mornings. 'Sirius, you idiot, _Sirius_!'

Jo stared at her. 'Lily, why is Sirius in your bed?' 

__

'How the hell should I know? Just go in there and get him out!' 

'Wow. You are grumpy in the mornings, aren't you?' But she climbed slowly out of bed, leaving a rather cross Lily standing in her bedroom. 

'Oh, Sirius!' 

Lily could hear Jo slapping him across the face in an attempt to wake him up. After a few moments, however, she couldn't hear any sounds at all. 

'Jo?' 

Lily padded down the hallway back into her own room, where she found both of her friends lying fast asleep on her bed.

'Why me? Why me, I ask you, why me?' 

Jo glanced up sleepily. 'How come you're talking to the ceiling, Lil?' 

Lily just walked out the room, sighing tiredly. 

James knocked on the door later that day, and when Lily opened it, he headed straight for the fridge. 

'Does _any_body ever think of _any_thing but their stomachs around here?' She asked crossly. 

James looked up. 'Yeah. Where's Sirius?' 

Lily groaned loudly, sitting down at the table with her head in her hands. 'In my bed.' 

James did a double take. 'What was that?' 

'With Jo,' Lily added. 

James's eyes widened to the size of saucers. 'Excuse me.' He hurried off to Lily's doorway. 'Oh.' He sounded extremely disappointed. 'They've got their clothes on…'

'What were you expecting? No, wait, I don't want to know what you were expecting.'

James grinned. 'You sure?' 

Lily ignored him and peeked behind the door, to where Sirius and Jo were fast asleep, curled up closely to each other. 

'How sweet.' James commented. He looked at Lily. 'Want to try out Jo's bed?' 

Lily stared at him for a moment, wondering exactly what was going on in his head. 'Potter, calm your hormones for a moment. I'm hungry.' 

He looked crestfallen. 'Now who's thinking of their stomachs, huh?' 

'It's threatening me. It's saying 'foooooood.' Can't you hear it?' Lily patted her stomach fondly. 

'If you weren't so damn cute, I'd be having second thoughts about you,' James muttered. 'Although you're pretty nice as well, I s'pose. And sweet…'

Lily raised her eyebrows. 'Are you coming onto me? James, I am your girlfriend.'

He mumbled something under his breath, but recovered quite quickly. 'So you'll kiss me?' 

Lily shook her head, smiling. 'Course I will.'

James grinned. 

'After I've eaten breakfast.' 

***

'Oh, for goodness sake, Joey!' Rowena snapped. 'Just eat your bread already!' 

Joey nibbled off his crusts and then became involved with shaping the bread into a snowman shape, pretending he hadn't heard her. 

She sighed, and went back to picking at her own soup. It was full of…she stared at it. Ew. Mushrooms. 

'Yuck.' Rowena pushed her bowl away, wrinkling her nose with disgust. Joey was now chewing up his bread, his crusts left forgotten on his plate. 

'So. What're we doing today?' 

She shrugged. 

Joey looked thoughtful. 'I was thinking we could do something to do the squid…'

'Like?' 

A dreamy expression came over Joey's face, his eyes glazed over. 'It would look nice purple…with big fluoro spots…'

'Or, we could study for the test tomorrow.' Rowena said_. Where did that thought come from? Rowena, have you lost your mind? _

Joey blinked. 'Or not.' 

'I'm studying,' she said stubbornly, standing up. 'See you later.' 

Joey watched her leave, a confused look now on his pale face, brown hair falling into his eyes, making him look quite like a lost little puppy with nowhere to go. _What's up with her?_

Rowena found herself in the library. 'Won't this be fun,' she muttered to herself. She looked around. 'Maybe I should just go dye the squid,' she mused. But instead, her legs carried her over to a deserted table on the far side of the library, as far away from people as she could get. On it, a book sat, face down. She looked at it curiously, and turned it over. It was blank. 

She sighed, disappointed. How boring. But, just out of interest, she opened it and started flicking the pages, searching for something interesting. It was filled with page after page of diary entries, written neatly in some kind of cursive handwriting, all loopy and old-fashioned. At the end of the book, pages had been stuck in. 

She frowned and sat down, wondering how this diary could possibly have found its way into the library. Obviously, someone had left it there…unless it had just- appeared? _Don't be silly. Books can't walk. _

Rowena went back to the beginning, searching for a name. Inside the front cover, written in tiny, tiny writing, it said _'Liesal Harper, 1932.' _

'How interesting,' she murmured. Then she pocketed the book, and left to find Joey, hoping he hadn't already done something odd to the squid. 

***

It was a stormy night, and Lily and James were sitting, quite bored, in their Headquarters, guarding the items that had been brought in that afternoon. Which, as James had pointed out, was pretty unfair, considering they still didn't know what was _in_ the crates. Mundungus Fletcher had been all too secretive. 

Lily examined the tracking devices, all of which were quiet for the time being. It was, to put it quite frankly, boring. 

'So,' James said, yawning loudly. 'When do Amanda and Remus get here?' 

Lily shrugged. 'Midnight, I think.' 

James looked at his watch. 'It's three o'clock already.' 

A clap of thunder crashed then, the lightening that accompanied it flashing through the sky. The candles that lit in the room they were in flickered, and blew out. 

It was pitch black. 

Lily lit her wand, which lit up her face eerily. 'I'm going to fall asleep…'

James, for once, had nothing to say in reply, as it was far too much trouble to open his mouth. 

'Me too…' He managed to say, a yawn taking over. Until his head decided to droop to the side and bang into the wall. 'Ow!' 

Lily, who had been half-asleep, awoke with a yell. 'What?'

'I banged my head…'

She giggled, and realised they weren't going to get any sleep at all.

***

As Lily and James sat guarding the mysterious boxes, Sirius and Jo were on the couch at Sirius's house, arguing over the remote control. 

'We're not watching that,' Jo said, shaking her head stubbornly. 

'And you want us to watch that?' 

'What, pray tell, is wrong with that?' 

'Look at them! Look at what they're wearing!' 

'Look at what you're wearing!' 

Sirius glanced down to look at what he was wearing. 'What's wrong with what I'm wearing?'

Jo shrugged. 'I dunno, I can't actually see them in the dark…'

Sirius rolled his eyes. 'But we aren't watching that, I refuse to.'

'So close your eyes,' Jo suggested helpfully. 

Sirius snatched the remote control from her hand, flicking it to a different channel. 'Oooooh. Look at this.' 

__

'Sirius. This is dumb,' Jo whined. 

'Just because _I_ have the remote control.'

__

I don't believe I'm doing this, Jo thought grumpily. _I'm easily within kissing distance of Sirius Black and I'm arguing over the TV channels with him. How sad. _

'We could watch a video,' Sirius said. 'But we don't have any videos.' 

'Or a VCR,' Jo added, grabbing the remote control back. 

'But look at what they're wearing!' Sirius complained. 'You can't expect me to _watch_ this!' 

'So sorry. D'you have any _better_ ideas?' 

Sirius thought for a moment. He had the irrepressible urge to kiss her, which surprised him. After all, she was _Jo_. He didn't like Jo, not like that… Sirius could have sworn he heard the little voice in his head tutting at him. _'Just kiss the girl_,' it appeared to be saying. Well, Sirius wasn't a person to ignore the voice in his head. 

Jo's own head went quite dizzy for a moment. 'Yes, we could do that.' 

Sirius grinned. 

Christa Crabbe, your time will come. Some day. I still don't know when. I know how, I know what's going to happen after. Just not when. So please, do be patient with me. I hope that made sense, and I hope that was a better part. I am _still_ sick. And too much ice cream doesn't help. Lucy, do tell me, are you sick? Cause as you well know, you ate more than me and I'm curious. 

If you review, I'm sure the next part'll come out quicker…reviews make me happy. Oh, and in the next part, there'll be a lot more of Rowena, cause I have big plans for her. I hope it's not too confusing. 


	6. something happens

****

Just As Long As We're Together

Chapter 6

__

I wanna make you smile

Whenever you're sad

Carry you around when your arthritis is bad

All I wanna do

Is grow old with you

I'll get your medicine

When your tummy aches

Build you a fire if the furnace breaks

It could be so nice

Growing old with you

I'll miss you

Kiss you

Give you my coat when you are cold

I'll need you

Feed you

Even let you hold the remote control

So let me do the dishes in our kitchen sink

Put you to bed when you've had too much to drink

I could be the one 

Who grows old with you

I wanna grow old with you

Adam Sandler (Grow Old With You from The Wedding Singer_) _

Sirius Black had ten minutes before he was supposed to be at work, and he decided that he might as well say hi to Jo Gilles before he left- he'd hardly seen her at all in the past two weeks, and he was missing her rather psychotic sense of humour- it was unusually like his own. 

He knocked on the door, knowing full well Lily Evans wouldn't answer, as she'd been out with James Potter half the night. He'd come home at about three in the morning, wide awake and singing the ABC- though Sirius was quite sure he'd called lost the thread of it when he got to D. James insisted it was just hyperactiveness, but Sirius knew (from personal experience) that it was probably the alcoholic beverages that had been served. James hadn't been interested in arguing when Sirius woke him up- the only word he'd understood from James's incoherent speech was 'Panadol.' 

As he'd expected, the figure that appeared at the door a few moments later was Jo, her long black hair tousled and tangled. She looked at Sirius blearily, blinking in an effort to get the sleep out of her eyes. 

'Hey, Jo-jo.' Sirius said cheerfully. 

Jo stared at him. 'What did you just call me, Black?' 

'Since when did you call me Black?' 

But instead of another comment, she just sighed and turned around. 

'What's up?' Sirius asked. 

'See…there's something I want to talk to you about.' 

'Mmm?'

'Look, Sirius.'

'Back to first names are we?' Sirius teased. 

Jo didn't answer, instead, a kind of sad and confused expression flashed across her eyes, until it was replaced by her normal look, with only a flicker of something else hidden in the shadows. 'The ministry've offered me a job.'

Sirius grinned. 'That's great!'

'It's in Australia.' She said bluntly, and Sirius's jaw dropped. 

'Excuse me?' 

'It's in Australia.' 

'But you said no, right?' 

'Umm…I said I'd think about it.' She caught sight of Sirius's expression and rushed to defend herself. 'Well, what exactly is keeping me here, huh? I've barely got any family, except my brother, James and Lily are _always_ busy, Remus is so preoccupied, and you-'

'I like you!' 

Jo rolled her eyes. 'Yeah, and it seems that's about it. You've kissed me _once_, and I've barely seen you at all all week, our relationship- if you can call this a relationship- is going nowhere. So tell me, what is there keeping me here? Give me _one_ good reason.' 

Sirius was looking at the clock and missed the pleading look in her eyes. 

"_Shit_. Jo, I've got to get to work. I'll talk to you later, kay?' 

She nodded, forcing the lump in her throat down. 'Yeah. Later.' 

***

Lily woke up several hours later, and her immediate reaction to the light filtering through the gap into her curtains- that fell, remarkably, right on her eyes, was _'headache_.' 

'Jo?' She mumbled, climbing out of bed. 

Jo was sitting at the kitchen table. 'The panadol's by the fridge,' she said by way of greeting. 

'Morning to you too,' Lily muttered, groping around in the cupboard for a chat. She waited for Jo to snap back at her, or just say something incredibly stupid as a comeback- but her friend just muttered 'hi,' and went back to mushing up her weet-bix. 

Lily woke up over a cup of rather strong tea, and then sat for a moment and stared at the wall, willing herself to wake up. Needless to say, it didn't really work. 

'Got any plans for today?' Jo asked after awhile, picking up on the fact that Lily wasn't about to start making conversation. But in reply Lily just groaned and started picking at the sugar lumps in the sugar bowl, in an attempt to get a bit livelier. 

It worked. 

'Lily.' Jo said tiredly, wondering if Sirius had lunch break soon, 'stop bouncing on the couch.' 

__

Oh dear. I sound like my mother…this is not good. Haven't seen her for over a year, won't ever see her again, and yet somehow I still sound remarkably like her daughter…how very strange. 

Lily giggled, yawned, and promptly fell asleep. 

***

Sirius raced inside that evening, hurrying in an attempt to stop the rain from soaking him right through to the skin. However, trying to dodge the raindrops had only succeeding in making him thoroughly wet, and so as he finally got home into the warmth that surrounded him, the only thing on his mind was a shower. 

Remus looked up from the table and grinned at his friends' predicament. 'Don't catch cold, Padfoot,' he warned. 'When you sneeze it shakes the whole house.' 

Sirius opened his mouth to say something (undoubtedly a very witty thing, as it was from Sirius) and sneezed. Remus hid a smile with his mug, and Sirius sniffed, walking off to the shower in what he hoped was a dignified fashion, leaving a trail of water behind him. 

When he came out, James was also up, and he was quite a bit more cheerful than he had been that morning. He grinned his normal grin instead of scowling, his black hair much more fly-away than it normally was- he'd obviously forgotten to brush it, most likely due to daydreaming about Lily, something he was quite prone to now. 

'Don't smirk at me like that, Prongs. It makes you like frighteningly evil.'

James blinked. 'It does? I never knew that.'

'Probably because people were too scared to tell you,' Sirius muttered under his breath, flopping down onto the couch. 

'Sirius. We have ice cream here. _Ice cream_.' 

Sirius didn't answer. 

'My God, I think he's ill, Prongs.' Remus said, peering over the back of the couch to look at Sirius. 

'Padfoot,' James said loudly, 'We have ice cream.' 

'Uh huh.' 

'Yes, he's sick.'

James climbed over the couch and stared at Sirius for a moment. 'What's up?' 

'Nothing,' he muttered. 

'Yeah, right,' James snorted, and he looked at Sirius with concern. 'Come on, tell me.'

'Jo's got a job…'

'So?'

'In Australia…'

'What?'

'And if she goes she'll never know that I- umm…yeah.'

'So go after her, idiot!' 

'What's the point?' Sirius said, sighing sadly. 'She wants to go…I can't stop her.' 

James stared at his best friend in disbelief. 'Sirius. Black. Go and tell her that you love her. Now.'

'Now?'

'No, next year. Yes, dopey, now!'

'Okay, I'll, um, see you guys later.' He lingered by the doorway for a moment, until Remus pushed him out, shutting the door behind his back. 

Sirius peeked back in. 'You sure about this?' 

'YES!'

'Okay, okay.'

He left, leaving Remus and James to ponder over their friend's insanity. 

***

'You, Mr, are a pickle,' Rowena said ferociously to her owl. 

It hooted back at her, and if owl language could have been translated, it was probably saying she was insane, and he was _not_ a pickle, he was an owl and he would appreciate it if she didn't embarrass him in front of his fellow owls, thankyou very much. 

'Actually, it's an owl,' a voice from behind her clarified. 

Rowena spun around and dropped her owl in the process, causing the poor (and now very embarrassed) creature to fly up into the rafters of the owlery, while she glared at the person who had so rudely interrupted her. 

'So, Archer. Life got so boring you had to turn to your owl for conversation, eh?' 

'When humans are as boring as you it doesn't give me much choice, does it?' 

The intruder's eyes became cold, and he sauntered over closer to her, his dark blue eyes glinting. 'Your boyfriend gotten sick of you?' 

She was about to snap at him, when it suddenly occurred to her that she didn't have a boyfriend. 'What?' 

'McIntyre.' 

'Terrible, terrible last name isn't it?' 

'He gotten sick of you?'

'He was never healthy of me in the first place.' 

The boy sighed, exasperated. 'Do you ever talk sense?' 

'Do you have a brain?' 

'Why do you always answer my questions with questions!'

'Why do you keep asking me questions?' 

He made a loud noise, making Rowena smile, as he looked extremely impatient and an owl had just done its business on his sandy hair. 

'Look, Archer.' 

'What?' 

He glared at her, but continued, unaware that owl poo was trickling down closer to his ear. 'I was wondering…'

'What were you wondering?' She interrupted, having a great time just watching the small trail of white slither closer and closer to his earlobe. She was just waiting for the loud shriek that would follow his discovery. 

'Wanna go to the Halloween ball with me?' 

She stared at him, and stepped closer, inspecting the owl poo; positive it must have done something his brain…maybe it was radioactive or something. 

'What the hell are you doing?' He said, bewildered…this was one weird, weird girl. 

'You have bird poo in your hair, Diamond.' She said simply, turning around to go, completely forgetting the letter that lay on the ground, tossed there by a very ruffled owl, which hooted a last comment to her as she departed. _Owl_ poo, lassie, not _bird_ poo. 

The boy watched her go, raising his hand to his head in an attempt to get rid of the mess in his hair. In doing so, his eyes fell upon the abandoned envelope. Once he was positive Rowena was gone, Alex Matthews slipped her letter into his robes and hurried downstairs after her. 

'Hey, Archer.' 

She spun around. 

'What?' 

'Will you?' 

She scrunched up her nose and scrutinised him. She grinned. 'Yeah. See ya later, Diamond.' 

His head felt strangely light, and he made his way back to the Slytherin dungeons humming happily to himself, earning quite a few odd looks from fellow students, all of whom were positive he'd lost his mind. 

'Ro. Please. Please, tell me you're joking.' 

'I'm joking.' 

'You are?' Joey, her best friend, looked hopeful. 

'No, I'm not.'

His face screwed up in disgust, picturing his enemy in his mind. He stuck out his tongue at the image and then opened his eyes again to see Rowena looking puzzled. 

'What? Has he put a hex on you? Cause you're acting all…different. More than usual.'

She shook her head. 'No…I had a letter. I think I posted it…'

'Who cares about a letter?' Joey said impatiently. 'You have said yes to Alex Diamond. Have you gone _insane_? Have you been running around in the _dungeons_? You haven't _kissed_ him, have you?' 

She pulled a face. 'No! But hey, he's cuter than you.' 

Joey was quite offended.

***

'Hi, Kermit, is Jo there?' 

Lily yawned loudly and looked over her shoulder. 'Uh huh. Want me to get her for you?' 

'Yeah…' Sirius stepped inside, walked around a broken lamp, raised his eyebrows at a painting with a large hole blown right through the middle, and sat down at the table, careful not to sit on a chair with bits of glass embedded in the cushions. 

'Have you been exploding stuff?' He asked, as half the breakable items in the room were now broken, cracked, or melted down. 'Cause it's addictive, you know…once James almost blew up his cat.'

Lily's eyes opened slightly wider, which really wasn't saying much. 'And did he?'

'Well, no…I kind of did.'

Lily snorted with laughter and lay her head down on her arms for a quick snooze. When Jo finally entered the kitchen, her hair a bit more well kept than it had been that morning, her eyes lit up for a brief second the moment she saw Sirius, but she quickly glanced down, biting her fingernails. 

'Thought you were busy,' she muttered, not meeting his eyes. 

'I had to work. But I wanted to talk to you.' 

'So talk already.'

'Could we go outside?' He looked at Lily meaningfully, hoping she'd get the message, but as she appeared it be asleep, it didn't do much good. 

'Here's fine,' Jo said shortly. 

'Okay…Er- I love you?'

Maybe Jo had been expecting him to ask her if she wanted some boysenberry ice cream, or maybe ask her to go to the movies. 

But whatever she'd been expecting, it wasn't that.

Jo looked up slowly, her eyes hopeful. 'Really?' 

Sirius grinned. 'Want me to write it down?'

'I do!' Lily said brightly, looking up from where she'd been 'asleep.' 'Oops…Jo, can I borrow your camera?'

'Yeah, it's um, somewhere in my room.'

'Might as well be in the black hole,' Lily said under her breath, eyeing her two friends suspiciously. 'You aren't going to make out on the table, are you? Cause I'm kind of hungry.'

'Thankyou, Miss Evans, for your input. Now shoo.' Jo was considerably more cheerful than she had been earlier. 

Lily left, wondering if James would kill her if she didn't get the photographs…probably. 

Jo gave Sirius a tiny smile. 'I thought you weren't coming. I got a bit angry, actually.' 

__

'You did all this?'

'Well, yeah. Lily got into the spirit of things and dropped a cup, but she fixed it up later, so it really doesn't count.'

'I never knew you were so evil.'

'I never knew you had a freckle on your ear,' Jo commented, leaning up closer to look at his ear. 

Sirius's face broke out into a grin, and he kissed her far harder than what was actually necessary, not that she cared. 

'Guess what?' She whispered, the moment they'd broken apart. 'I love you too.'

'Don't blame you, I mean, I'm a pretty lovable guy.'

She rolled her eyes, before allowing herself to be swept up into another kiss. 'Yeah, and pretty darn conceited one at that.'

'Moi?' Sirus said innocently. 'Conceited?'

'No, that other guy.'

'You, my dear, are far too sarcastic.'

'I take lessons from queen Lily.'

Lily put her hands on her hips, standing in the doorway where she'd been watching them with amusement. 'And what is that supposed to mean, oh high and mighty Jo?'

Jo didn't answer, so, in return, Lily fumbled around for the button on the camera. 'What is wrong with this thing?' She said grumpily, peeping through it to see only black. 

Jo glanced up for a moment. 'You have to open the lens,' she offered helpfully. 

'I _knew_ that.'

Sirius said something that could have been 'Yeah right,' or maybe something else strange, Lily wasn't quite sure, as Jo was in the way.

'I did! Uh oh…' Lily glared at the camera. 'And so now you just _have_ to run out of flim, don't you?'

***

James opened the door to let in a jumpy Lily. 'It's freezing out there!' She said, jumping up and down on the spot in an attempt to get warm. 

'It's called autumn.'

'Thanks, Mr Potter, for your wisdom. I appreciate it, really I do.'

He bowed. 

'So has Sirius told her yet?' James asked, getting straight to the point. 

'Er- yeah.'

'And you got the photos?'

'Now, James, why would you want photos of your best friend kissing my best friend right after he tells her he loves her, I mean, it's a rather mean thing to do, don't you think?'

'You sounded awfully excited when I- no, actually, _you_ suggested it before.'

'I did?'

'You did…you didn't get the photos, did you?'

'Er- no.'

James tutted and shook his head, black hair flying every which way. Lily loved it when he did that, as it made him look so young and innocent…not always innocent, though, just cute. And his eyes were so dark…_I'm becoming quite sentimental_, she realised, shaking her head. _Must be old age. Although, eighteen isn't really that old, now that I think about it._

'What's up with you? You've got this weird look on your face. Are you _thinking_?' 

'Me? Think? James, be serious.'

'What are you thinking inside that little head of yours, then?'

Lily chose to ignore the little head comment- though she didn't mind admitting that his head was quite a bit bigger than her own, due to inflammation of the brain from having to say and do witty things occasionally. Lily realised she'd better answer his question. 

'I was wondering if you'll ever tell me you love me, you told Sirius to tell Jo after all.'

'How d'you know I told him to?'

'Come on, you really think Sirius would do that of his own accord?'

James grinned. 'I think you're being a bit harsh on my dear Sirius.'

'I'm just being realistic. But do you?' 

James smiled at her, picked her up, and carried her over to the window. 'Potter, what the hell are you doing?'

'I've always wanted to tell you under the stars.'

'But it's cloudy,' Lily pointed out, looking up in the white sky, the fluffy clouds lit up brightly by street lamps. 

'Have an imagination, Lil. Unless you want to wait until tomorrow?'

Lily thought about it for a moment. 'nah, you can say it now.'

James set her on her feet, his brown eyes crinkled up at the corners like they always did when he smiled. 'This isn't really very romantic,' he said, pushing a strand of hair off her face. 

'It'd be more romantic if you actually said it! I swear, if I didn't love you so much I'd strangle you…' She looked up at James and raised her eyebrows. 'What? You look like you've just seen a whole plate of chicken wings or something.'

He just continued grinning stupidly, and, as Lily backed away slowly, wondering if he was hallucinating about chicken wings, he'd kissed her more deeply than he ever had before, leaving her completely breathless. 

'What was that for?' She whispered when he'd put her down- he was a lot taller than her, and found it easier to just pick her up instead of having to bend down. 

'I love you too.'

'Really?' 

'No, I just made it up. Course I do, you prat.'

Lily glared at him. 'I am not a prat.'

'Whatever you say. _Do_ we have chicken wings round here? I'm feeling quite peckish now I think of it…'

Lily shook her head sadly. 'You've lost your mind.'

James smiled charmingly at her. 'I lost it the moment I saw you.'

She snorted. 'No, I'd say you lost it the moment you met Sirius- he must have corrupted you…though I s'pose it could have been the other way round…no, can't imagine Sirius as innocent.'

'You can't?' James was now looking for some chicken wings. 

'James, just out of curiosity, do you ever think about anything but your stomach?'

'Yeah, I think about you, and Pickles- he's off on an errand at the moment- and I think of Sirius, and Remus, and Voldemort- speaking of Voldemort, we've got the late shift tonight.'

Lily groaned loudly. 'Yuck. I'd rather go to Petunia's wedding…no, cancel that, even late shift's got to be better than her wedding.'

'Her _wedding_? Who'd marry _her_?' It was lucky for James she wasn't very fond of her sister, or she might have been quite insulted. 

'My sentiments exactly…dunno what that Vernon guy sees in her. Actually, I don't know what she seems in him.'

'Money?'

'No, I'm afraid she might actually _like_ him. Eurgh.' Lily pulled a face at the thought. 

'You coming?' James had just pulled some chicken wings out the fridge- they'd been hidden behind the frozen peas- and was now heading towards the door, eager to start eating. 

Lily eyed the doorway with distaste. 'I'd rather stay here, if you don't mind-'

James grabbed her hand and pulled her out into the cold. 

***

'Now. Do you like the purple dress-'

'It's maroon.'

'The green dress-'

'Actually, I'd say it's a mossy kind of colour.'

'Or the black one?'

'Which could also be called- um, inky darkness?'

'Joey.' Rowena said crossly. 'Which one looks better?'

'I think canary yellow looks better on you,' Joey said, glaring at the range of clothes now scattered across his bed. 

'How, pray tell, do you know all the colours of the rainbow?'

'I have talent.' He replied. 

'Oh, come _on_, just _tell_ me which one looks better!' 

'I said. The yellow.'

'I don't _have_ a yellow.'

He waved his wand. 'You do now.'

'Oooh. That's pretty.' Rowena picked up the dress- which had been a mossy colour before- and stroked it gently. 'How'd you do this?'

He shrugged and rolled onto his back. 'So you've got a dress, good for you.'

'Why are you being such a _pain_?'

He didn't answer, so Rowena turned to more important matters. 'Okay. I need shoes.'

'You could wear those old bluey colour shoes you used to have,' he suggested helpfully. 

'Or not.'

'I thought they were nice.'

'You called them ratty, old, and, if I remember correctly, you asked if they'd been nibbled on by mice.'

'You don't remember correctly,' he muttered. 

'Get a life.' She snapped, snatching up her clothes to leave. 

'I have a life, thankyou very much.'

'Whatever you'd like to believe, McIntyre.'

Joey flinched as the door slammed, and then rolled back onto his stomach. He could hear Rowena stomping back down the staircase, no doubt trailing a maroon dress behind her with her hair falling out all over the place. He had a horrible suspicion that he'd just lost his best friend. 

Alex Diamond looked at the letter in his hand, deciding whether or not he should open it. His conscience had gone on holiday though, so, before it had returned, he'd ripped it open. On the parchment, which was ripped in several places was a rather long letter written in navy blue ink, Rowena's small writing printed neatly across it. 

__

Dear Lily,

This is going to sound weird, I know, and I know you're probably busy at the moment, but you said I could write if I ever needed something- well, I need something now. 

I've been having these really weird dreams. I don't know what they mean, and I don't think I'll ask Trelawney- she'd probably say they mean I'll explode on the spot in a few weeks or something peculiar like that. Joey doesn't believe in Divination - neither do I, really, but this is different- and he'd most likely scoff at the thought of dreams predicting the future.

The reason I'm writing to you - apart from the above reasons- is because James Potter's in them, and you're the only person I know who's close to him. I can't really explain it in a letter- my hands starting to hurt anyway- so would you be able to meet me at Hogsmeade sometime? We can finally go there (Joey keeps having far too much butterbeer than what's good for him). The next weekend's on Halloween, so send a reply soon, kay?

Rowena 

P.S. I don't suppose you know the ingredients for a shrinking solution? 

Alex frowned, deep in thought, wondering what her dreams were about. He knew who James Potter was- everyone did, from his reputation as a troublemaker and from Quidditch. He guessed this Lily she was writing to was Potter's girlfriend, a red-haired Gryffindor. 

All the cute ones were in Gryffindor, he thought sulkily. Including Archer…she was probably off with her Gryffindor friends now. Though some of the Ravenclaws weren't too bad, and if you squinted up your eyes a bit, the Slytherins could pass for pretty. He sighed loudly and folded the parchment up again, putting it in a fresh envelope addressed to Lily Evans, and then hurried off to deliver it before Rowena thought to go and check if it had ever been sent. 

Once in the Owlery it took quite a while to actually get an owl to take the letter- they were all feeling unusually stubborn, and they'd also seen him talking to the dark haired girl who'd insulted them so deeply. When he'd finally shoved a poor, innocent, feathered (and rather gullible young owl that was expecting treats) he left, wincing with pain- he hadn't known owls could get so grumpy, not to mention violent.

While Alex fought with the owls, Rowena wasn't with her friends, she was sitting on her bed staring at her pillow. It was a very interesting pillow, if one looked at it for a prolonged amount of time. It had a rather odd piece of fluff hanging off the corner of it and if you looked at it with one eye closed, it took on an uncanny resemblance to an elephant. 

She turned away from the elephant after awhile (if you closed the other eye it looked like a rat) and her eyes fell upon the pale yellow dress thrown upon the end of her bed. She sighed and crawled over her covers to it, smoothing out the creases. There were small daisies along the hems, embroidered neatly where before it had been quite plain. Rowena stood up and tried it on, eyeing her reflection in the mirror. Joey was right (for once). She _did_ look nice in yellow, it somehow made her eyes stand out. 

She looked around for some shoes, but, as it always was when you needed something badly, no shoes were in sight- except the scruffy blue shoes Joey had mentioned that afternoon.

Rowena was just searching under her bed for a pair of shoes that would match- or at least a pair of shoes with holes at the toes (it was strange, the amount of shoes she had with holes in them…for the moment, she blamed Joey and conveniently forgot she hated shoe shopping) or at least a _pair_ of shoes when there was a quiet knock on the door.

Rowena banged her head on the bed just as she found a matching pair of shoes that did not have holes in them. 'Ow! Hang on a minute.'

She slid out from under the bed, brushed the dust of her front and opened the door, with the shoes hanging off her wrist.

It was Joey.

'What d'you want?' She asked warily, trying to see behind his back to check for dungbombs or something equally gross.

He grinned and held out a tiny daisy. 'Sorry?'

Rowena looked from the flower to him and back again. 'Is it poisonous?'

Joey laughed and bounced into the room. 'No. But I figure if you are going to go to the ball- God help you- you should look okay, because otherwise I won't dance with you once.'

She smiled and took the little yellow daisy, sniffing it. 'Well, now you're here, I wanted to ask you a question.'

'Mmm?'

'Should I wear platform shoes or sandals?'

Joey groaned.

***

Remus unlocked the door, walked inside and switched on the light, expecting to see Sirius playing chess with himself, or maybe with Jo, though that was rather unlikely. Jo couldn't see the point to chess, and it was a rare event if she didn't throw one of her opponent's pieces across the room out of frustration. So, obviously, even if she wanted to play, hardly anyone else would risk playing with her for fear of concussion.

He blinked at the scene he had just walked into, closed the door, and went back to where James and Lily were working with Miranda Whitehorn.

'Moony! I thought you were tired?' James greeted his friend cheerfully, and gestured towards the empty chair next to him.

'I thought it best not to interrupt Sirius and Jo.'

Lily giggled, and said something quietly to Miranda, who snorted with laughter.

James grinned. 'I take it she's not going to Australia then?'

Remus thought about it for a moment. 'Not tonight, anyway. And if Sirius has anything to do with it, I'd say she won't be leaving London unless he's in Azkaban or some place he can't get to her.' 

'How come they're over there, anyway? They were at our place before,' Lily said, frowning.

James shrugged. 'Sirius's bed is bigger?'

Miranda stood up suddenly and pointed in alarm to a device that was a lot like muggle security cameras. It showed three hooded people sneaking around the woods outside the house they were in. The four of them looked at each other, trying to think of what they could do.

'Okay.' James said firmly, taking charge. 'Miranda, you were good at Charms ,weren't you?'

She nodded, her normally tanned face white in the darkness. 'Right, you go with Lily and try to freeze them. Remus and I will be right behind you to capture them- but you do it first if you can, okay? No, actually, Remus- you go ahead- you're the best with curses and blocks and stuff, so you can try and block anything they try to throw at Lil and Miranda, I'll stay behind them to get the idiots once they're frozen- I'll help freeze them if I can. Got it?'

The other three nodded determinedly, and they left, moving as quietly as they could.

He he he. I'm evil. But I really wanted to get this part out the way so I can work on some other things for awhile (namely, Lily Angel).

Nothing at all is mine- except Jo and Miranda- so if you're planning on suing me, just picture this- an innocent thirteen year old girl who only has ten cents- no, actually, I gave that to the guide dog foundation.

There are a couple of people I want to thank. Firstly, everyone who's reviewed any of my stories, love you all- and my friends who do and say a lot of the things I write about, especially Lucy (who is responsible for Jo and Sirius finally getting together) Claire and Megan. 

And a note to Hermione Gulliver (just got your email) I hurry with it, I'll hurry. Oh, yeah, and thanks for all the reviews on it (10 things I hate about you) it was very encouraging. I'll try to write it this weekend, but, sadly, my maths book is lonely and I have to keep it company…damn homework. 


	7. something else happens

****

Just As Long As We're Together

Chapter 7

Lily Evans swore softly into the darkness, dragging a body through a clump of roses. 

'What do Death Eaters _eat_? A three course meal three times a day?' 

Miranda Whitehorn handed Lily her wand, while an even larger body floated by her own side. 

'Oh, yeah. Wand. Magic.' Lily toyed with the wand in her fingertips. 

'You need sleep,' Remus Lupin commented, as Lily yawned loudly and continued saying words that didn't make sense.

'How'd it go?' James Potter leapt out of a tree, obviously quite pleased with how his plan had turned out. 

Remus pointed to the motionless bodies. 

'Goody.' James rubbed his hands together. 

'Goody?' Lily muttered. 'I've broken my back. I'll never walk again. I think I must've strained a muscle- ow! What was that for?'

James rolled his eyes and kicked her shins again.

Remus pushed a clump of leaves away from his face. 'We should apparate to the ministry, you know.'

'What about Dumbledore?' Miranda pulled the death eater by her side away from a snake, while Lily herself jumped away from the slithering creature and ended up almost in James's arms. 

'Scared of snakes, are we?'

Lily tried to look calm, but her act of dignity was ruined when Miranda hissed softly, sending poor Lily into hysterics. James had the task of forcing her to walk again- mainly because she was strangling him around the neck, though it took several moments for her to be reassured. When she would finally step through the leaves littering the ground without screeching, they continued their way back to the house silently, in case any Death Eaters had heard the commotion- though they had probably already heard them, as James pointed out. 

'I hate snakes,' Lily muttered to no one in particular. 'They give me the creeps…'

Remus nodded thoughtfully. 'They remind me of Slytherins.'

'Eurgh. Yeah, that could be it.' 

A small green and silver snake glided along next to the group, its fanged mouth working up at the corners into a twisted smile. 

Master would be happy. 

***

'Those shoes don't match,' Joey McIntyre said upon entering Rowena Archer's dorm room. 

She pointedly ignored him and went back to doing her hair. 

'And now that I think of it, that dress doesn't look-'

'Joey, shut the hell up.' Rowena snapped, clipping back a long strand of hair that insisted upon falling out.

'Yes, I could do that.'

'Bravo. Pass me that ring.'

Joey stared at her, and she spat out the clips still in her mouth. 'I said, pass me that ring.' 

'What's the magic word?' He teased, toying with the silver and blue ring she'd left on her bed. 

'Do you _want_ me to punch you?'

'Sounds pretty magical to me,' he said brightly, throwing Rowena the ring. She slipped it onto her finger and nodded, satisfied. 

'I'll see you later.' Joey said, sitting down again. 

Rowena spun around. 'Huh? Aren't you coming?'

'I don't feel like throwing up today…but do have a good time, for my sake.'

'Joey, moron, come to the ball.'

'Only if I can play chaperone.'

'Oh God…Fine, stay here and sulk.'

'That's what I was planning on doing.'

Rowena threw her hands up in the air, letting out a frustrated sigh. 'You aren't getting any chocolate cake,' she called, her voice echoing up and down the stairwell. 

She waited for Joey's strangled yelp. 

'WHAT?"

'No chocolate cake.'

A few moments later, Joey and Rowena were walking to the great hall, she with an extremely pleased expression on her face, while he scowled at everyone and everything- including a first year who was terrified. That boosted his confidence, but only slightly. 

They entered the Great Hall, which was filled with students dressed up in dress robes, some dancing, some singing (Rowena suspected the drinks were a bit strong) and some seventh years gazing into each other's eyes. Joey, of course, took it upon himself to walk past them humming the wedding march, causing them to turn red and fall off their chairs. 

It was decorated with streamers falling from the ceiling like rain, and balloons in every other possible place. Rowena was marvelling at the streamers (they changed colour every couple of minutes, giving the room a kind of disco effect) when someone called her name. 

'Hey, Archer.' 

She turned around and tripped over some stray streamers, grazing her elbow. 

'Smooth, Archer, very smooth.'

They stuck out their hand and pulled her up. 

Rowena looked straight into the face of Alex Diamond. He had his usual grin on his face, and his dark blue eyes sparkled in the coloured lights. His sandy hair now looked a bit pink. 

She mumbled something unintelligent and stepped back, uncomfortable. 

'Where's McIntyre?'

'Off getting himself killed, most likely. He always forgets that seventh years know more spells than we do.' She looked around, praying to God no seventh years were feeling too murderous tonight. 

Alex snorted, probably imagining Joey getting blown up. 

'So. D'you want to dance?' He said, pulling her towards the empty space in the middle of the huge room, which was devoid of balloons and streamers. 

'Well, I was thinking we could paint the ceiling-' she caught his eye and grinned. 'But yeah, dancing sounds fine.'

As they swirled, the kept getting other images in her head…she felt taller, sometimes, and whoever the person in her dream was, they most certainly couldn't dance. They kept stepping on her feet. And then she saw herself, and then a flash, and then Rowena fainted. 

***

'Hi, Professor?'

'James.' Professor Dumbledore greeted him warmly. 'Please, call me Albus.' 

'Er- right. Um, we got some Death Eaters- they were trying to attack us, I think, but Miranda spotted them in the foe-glass.'

Dumbledore's light blue eyes went hard, and he turned abruptly, his long cloak swishing out behind him. 

'That means they know where we are,' he murmured. 'We'll have to move.' He began pacing back and forth, a frown on his wrinkled face.

'Prof- I mean, Albus?' James said tentatively. 'How-'

Dumbledore's eyes met James' and he smiled sadly. 'I would say, my dear boy, that there is a spy in our midst.'

James frowned. 'A spy? But- who?'

The Professor sighed. 'That, I do not yet know. Somebody close to us- I'd say someone we'd never even suspect.' He glanced up at James, a searching look in them, and it was one of those moments when James wondered if he had x-ray vision. 

'No one we know,' he said stubbornly. 'Sirius hates the Death Eaters-' 

Here, the Professor frowned again, but James didn't notice. 

'And Lily'd never betray any of us- you should here her talk about them sometimes- I swear, if she ever comes face to face with a Death Eater, I pity them. A bit, anyway.'

Dumbledore smiled, waiting for James to continue. 

'And Remus wouldn't either, he's too kind. He's hardly had a bad thought in his life, I'm sure. And if he has it's only because of- well, you know…I don't know about Miranda and Amanda, but they're nice, and Miranda kicked the Death Eater she trapped an awful lot of times…and Peter- well, no offence to Peter, but I can't quite imagine him going over to Voldemort- he's far too innocent, no matter what Lily says.'

'Well, James. You'd better be going- I'm sure Lily's already worried. I'll speak to you again soon.'

James nodded and left, his mind a jumble of thoughts. 

***

Lily stood outside her door with James, ear up against the peephole.

'D'you think they're there?' She whispered. 

James cocked his head to the side, thinking and listening. 

''Er- no, I don't think so.'

Lily breathed a sigh of relief, while James groaned. 

'That means I won't be getting any sleep at all tonight,' he muttered. 

Lily unlocked the door and bounced in. 'You can sleep on the couch, if you want.' 

'Kay.' He plopped down on to the couch, fluffed up the cushions and collapsed into a dreamless oblivion. 

Lily smiled at the expression on his face- it was sweet and innocent and he looked just so cute. She pulled a blanket down off a shelf and snuggled down next to him, pulling the blanket up over them. 

'Night, Prongs,' she whispered.

James snored loudly in response, cuddling closer to her. 

***

'Is she- dead?'

Joey glared at Alex. 'No, twit, she's breathing…idiot.'

Alex ignored him, and went back to slapping Rowena in an attempt to wake her up. 

'Or you could _not_ do that,' Joey said, snatching his hand away from her face. 'She'll kick you.'

'She's unconscious,' Alex snapped. 'I'm trying to wake her up.'

By now, a large group had gathered around the three third years, one of whom, a fairly small girl was lying on the ground not moving. 

And Rowena, of course, was having another one of her dreams- her dreams were more accurate than Trelawney's absurd predictions- not that that was really saying much. 

__

'Harry, say 'Mummy'…'

A loud gurgle was the baby's response. 

'Very close…no, Harry, don't pull my hair…ow…ow…'

'Say 'Daddy'…'

'Dada!'

The picture finally came into focus, and Rowena smiled in her unconscious state. A pretty woman was holding a baby child gently in her arms, her eyes narrowed at the man Rowena couldn't see properly. His hair stuck up in odd directions at the back, and it seemed the poor baby had inherited this trait. 

'Now, Harry, say 'mummy.'

'Mama!'

The woman laughed. 'Harry, say 'daddy - is - stupid.'

Harry the baby looked at her, his eyes wide pools of green. 'Dada…'

'Is,' the woman prompted. 

'Is,' the baby repeated. '…toopid.'

'Bravo, Harry!'

Rowena sat up straight, staring at Joey and Alex with round eyes. 'Harry- Lily and James!'

'Er- right. Did you hit your head?'

***

'Rise and shine!' A bright voice said cheerfully, opening the curtains, sending a flood of light onto the lump on the couch. The lump moved over and two legs flopped out of the blankets, a slim white leg tangled up with a browner leg that had a dark blue sock dangling off its foot. 

Remus blinked, and then hurried over to Lily's bedroom. 

No Lily. 

'Great,' he muttered. 'I think I'll just check if they have pop-tarts…yum…'

'Did you hear something?' Lily whispered to James, hearing the sound of the toaster pop.

__

Mmm…pop-tarts… James was very tempted to get up, but then he remembered he was lying on a couch with a very cute girl who also happened to be his girlfriend. 

He stayed- it was a very comfortable position, after all. 

'Nope.'

Lily, however, listened to her stomach when it rumbled, and she jumped off the couch- or she attempted to jump off the couch, forgetting half her limbs were twisted up with James's. 

'Ow!'

Remus raced into the living room, only to find the lump had moved to the floor, now with three legs poking out from the mess of blanket (two with socks, one barefoot) and a mop of red hair was flowing out onto the carpet. 

Remus waited a bit, and, sure enough, a few moments later, Lily was standing up, still wearing her clothes. 'Hey, Remus.' 

'Morning Moony,' a detached voice mumbled, coming from somewhere under the blanket. 

Lily kicked the remaining bit of blanket, and it yelped and jumped up, revealing James Potter. 

'Yeah. Morning to you too, Kermit.' He rubbed his stomach where she'd kicked him. 

'Aw, young love,' Remus said, a soppy (and fake) smile on his face, pop tart in hand. 

Lily leapt onto James's back. 'Yup. He's my slave, and- yeow!' Lily lay on the couch, her legs stuck up in the air, waving about. 

'Hmph. I was going to say that you're also a very good cuddler-'

James crawled over to her, wrapping his arms around her waist. 'I am?'

Lily grinned at Remus over James's shoulder, her green eyes twinkling. 

'Yeah…you're a very cuddly person.'

Remus sighed, seeing he wasn't going to get any company any time soon. 

Maybe there'd be some custard in the fridge. 

Sorry this is short…I'm very, very hot, I don't have air-conditioning (as anyone who knows me would know) and today it was 39 degrees Celsius…

Anyway- review! I love reviews! I live for reviews! 

God, that sounded sad. 


	8. it's raining. yay. but unfortunately I c...

Finally…

****

Just As Long As We're Together

Chapter 8 

In a forest somewhere very hot and un-pronounceable, a tall man stood in the middle of a large circle. By his side, or rather, by his feet, a small, tiny green and silver lay. It was hissing rapidly, while the tall man relayed its message, a small and evil smirk on his own snake-like mouth. 

'They have the young Potter and Black working with them…Malfoy.'

A fairly young man glanced up, attentive. 'Yes, Lord?'

'I'd like you to deal with them…no…' The man stroked his chin, thoughtful. 'No. Kill the boy.'

'Which boy, Lord?'

'Diamond.' A woman amongst the Death Eaters gasped- he was her son. 

'The little brat from Hogwarts? Lord- why?' 

'Silence!' He roared, turning on the man, who backed away slowly, his hand hovering towards his wand. 'Do you dare to question me?' He said in a dangerously soft voice, almost a hiss.

'N-no, my Lord. I was- was merely wondering.' Lucius Malfoy stammered- the tall man was getting quite agitated. 

'Lord! Please! You- you can't kill Alex! He's only a boy, Lord, please!' The woman had pushed to the front, her husband furious with her- he hadn't been able to hold her back. 

'Oh? He is your son, isn't he?' The man's voice was mockingly sweet. 'How sad…' he tutted loudly, his wand by his side as it always was. Slowly he raised it up into the air, the green sparks flying _'Avada Kedavra_!' He yelled into the hushed silence. The woman flopped, lifeless, to the ground. 

'Diamond,' the killer said sharply to her husband. He looked up. 

'Yes, my lord?' 

'Do not inform your son of this _tragedy_…let him a have a present on Christmas day.'

'Yes, my lord,' said Mr Diamond, bowing deeply. 

'And you, Malfoy. Deal with the brat after that.'

Malfoy nodded.

The snake hissed a message, and the tall man's features twisted into a horrible smile. 'What a _wonderful_ Christmas this will be…'

***

Rowena Archer was on holidays- she wasn't supposed to be out of school, but had taken the Hogsmeade day as an opportunity to sneak out and find Lily Evans- Professor Trelawney wouldn't be much help. She already knew she'd die one day, and didn't need to be told again. 

She checked the address in her hands and then looked up at the door in front of her. Number 12. There was a holly wreath on the door and lots of little fairy lights strung up all over the roof. A loud crash from inside could be heard from where she was standing. This was it. 

Rowena knocked on the door and waited impatiently. After what seemed like hours, but was probably only a few minutes, the lock clicked and a head peered out. Rowena recognised her- she was a friend of Lily's. The girl opened the door properly. 

'Hullo,' she said cheerfully. 

'Hi. Um, is Lily here?'

'Yep. Who wants to know?' 

'I'm Rowena. Archer- I go to Hogwarts.

'D'you live round here?' Said the girl, inviting her in. She led her down a small and narrow corridor that had pictures stuck up on them, of moons and stars and planets and photographs. It was all very cosy, and Rowena was so busy looking at the pictures it took her a moment to answer. 

'Uh, no…I kind of snuck out, so I can't be long.'

The girl laughed- Rowena was surprised, most people, especially witches that had already graduated, wouldn't find this funny at all. Maybe she'd been drinking something a bit too strong. 

They entered a kitchen. At least, it looked like a kitchen. There was certainly enough mess in it for it to be a kitchen. It looked as though someone (probably Lily) had been trying to cook. _Trying_, anyway.

'Lily,' said the girl loudly. 

Lily spun around, and Rowena realised why she hadn't seen her. Lily's red hair was now white_. How strange_, Rowena thought to herself. Lily shook her head and cloud of flour puffed out, the red now visible, just a very dirty and pale colour. Lily sneezed. 

'Rowena! Hi! I thought you lived in the country?'

'Um, I do.'

'She escaped Hogwarts,' said Lily's friend. 

James Potter- who looked exactly like the boy in her dreams- sauntered in then, helped himself to a drink in the fridge, and then left. 

Lily rolled her eyes. 'That's a sickle you owe me, Potter,' she called. 

'Yup!' 

Rowena watched it all nervously- she was normally quite outgoing, but in a strange house full of eighteen year olds that she didn't really know and when she was sure to be facing detention if McGonagall found her out- she was a bit shy. 

'Um…'

Lily turned back to her and grinned, her nose white with flour as well. 'So, Ro. What's up?'

'Could I maybe talk to you in private?'

Lily raised her eyebrows (her now white eyebrows), and nodded. 'Uh huh. Jo, go and stop James and lover boy exploding something important.'

Jo! That was her name- she hated it when she couldn't remember who someone was. Jo poked her tongue out at Lily, but left, grabbing an apple on her way out. 

'Lover boy?'

'It's a very long and disgusting story. Sirius Black,' she added. 

'Oh.'

Lily peered at her. 'Are you okay? You look like you're about to faint or something.'

__

Oh dear. Not again. 

'I'm fine…it's just that I've been having these dreams,' she said slowly, twisting her fingers together. 'And you're in them…and James- I sent you a letter, didn't you get it?'

Lily shook her head, frowning. 'No.'

'Oh…uh oh. Oh _no_.'

'What?' Lily asked, thinking that maybe Rowena was a few screws loose- in the nicest possible terms.

'Alex. He's got the letter, I know. He does. That rat,' she said ferociously. 

'Er-'

'Sorry,' Rowena said hurriedly. 'I came because of the dreams, Trelawney wouldn't be much help and you're in them and I don't know anyone else who might be able to help…'

Lily shrugged. 'What're they about?'

Rowena thought for a moment. 'There're all sort of different, just with the same people…you, and James, and a boy who looks like James…he was a little baby in one, and you and someone else were talking to him. You were his mum…I think, anyway.'

Lily stared at her in surprise. 'Me?'

'Yeah.'

Lily looked quite pale for a moment, although, Rowena supposed that might have been because she had bits of flour on her cheeks and just about everywhere else as well. 

'But- who was the dad?' She asked quietly, glancing for a moment towards the doorway Jo had left by. 

'James, I think…I don't really know. Would we be able to talk properly some other time?' She said suddenly, looking at her watch and realising just how long it must have taken for her to reach Lily's house. 'McGonagall will _kill_ me,' she muttered. 

'Nah, you'll probably just get about ten detentions.'

Rowena sighed. 'Yay.'

Lily took her to the door and said goodbye, watching her walk slowly down the street. She was obviously in no hurry to get back to school. Then Lily turned back to go inside, wondering if Rowena's dreams were real…a baby? 

Rowena dashed in the common room, sweaty faced and tired. She'd almost run into Professor Flitwick- he wasn't too bad but it was very late and she wasn't sure what kind of mood he was in. 

'Well, well, well. Miss Archer.'

__

Dammit. 

***

'Tinsel! We need more tinsel!' Lily's orders rang through the house, the house she was currently turning upside down in her search for tinsel. There were large boxes strewn everywhere that Lily had collected from her cousin's place, all of them opened with the contents spilling out. 

James entered, eating a large chocolate chip muffin. 'Use your wand,' he said in a muffled voice, waving his own wand about for effect. 'It's easier.'

Lily glared at him. 'I want to do it the muggle way,' she insisted. 

'Why?' James asked, spraying cake crumbs all over some Christmas tree ornaments. 

'Just…because. I've never done it any differently.'

James shrugged, and left, chocolate muffin in hand. 

'Ah _ha_! Tinsel!'

Lily pulled the long sparkly strings of the tinsel out of quite a small box, and began hanging it up everywhere, draping it over the Christmas tree cheerfully, humming to herself as she worked. 

***

It was Christmas Eve, and the house was so decorated and ready for Christmas Day that James had to stop Lily from doing any more. 'Just one more little bit of holly up there?' She begged. 

'No.'

'Please?'

'No.'

'Pretty pretty please?'

'D'you want us all to suffocate? You hang up anything else and there'll be no room for oxygen.'

'That is a _slight_ exaggeration.' Lily grumbled. 

'Want some cake?' James said, in an attempt to distract her from the many wonders of tinsel. 

'We have cake?'

'Mm,' James answered through a mouthful of cake. 'It's good.' He handed a piece to her, and Lily, after chewing for a moment, agreed with him. 

They waited for Remus and Jo and Sirius (who had to work) and Peter to arrive, eating cake and playing games of eye-spy, for some curious reason. Lily was extremely excited, but James noticed that whenever she wasn't actually doing something, she seemed to be a bit sad and depressed. 

'What's up?' He asked during one of these moments, and she looked up. She smiled cheerfully and shook her head. 

'Nothing.' 

__

Except for the fact that my parents are dead and they aren't here…but nothing, really, nothing important. 

James frowned slightly, but he didn't say anything about it, mainly because Peter had just turned up. Lily, while she still wasn't exactly what anyone would call _fond_ of Peter, had decided he wasn't quite the little slug she'd thought at Hogwarts (maybe because he was holding gifts) and James had never really had anything against him in the first place.

'Peter! Hi!'

He smiled at them nervously, hoping he didn't look too nervous, holding the presents tightly in his hand. 

'Hello,' he squeaked. 

The three of them sat in the living room, either playing eye-spy or just talking, Lily nibbling on the cake, which she had decided was very tasty. Peter sat with his hands in his lap, staring about as if some large, ferocious and rather hairy monster would leap out of the shadows and gobble him up any second. 

Lily stopped trying to explain a joke to Peter when Remus turned up, much to James's great relief, as he'd heard the joke a million times already and he didn't particularly _want_ to hear the theory behind it.

'Hullo,' he said, pulling off his jacket. 

James leapt up off the couch, feeling incredibly grateful towards Remus. Peter, judging by his confused expression, was quite happy that Lily had been interrupted too. 

'Remus!' Lily called cheerfully. 'Come over here!'

He came, James and Peter groaned. 

'I wasn't going to talk about _that_,' Lily said, poking out her tongue (how childish). 'I just wanted to say merry Christmas!'

James snorted. 'She'll ask you a favour.'

'I will not!' Lily turned her back on James and spoke to Remus. 'Hello, Moony. Merry Christmas.'

He smiled. 'Merry Christmas.' He nudged James for reason- James elbowed him back, then grinned angelically- which really didn't suit him- at Lily, and she frowned suspiciously. Then she remembered that she never _had_ explained that joke to Peter. 'And so the elephant is shoved in the fridge-'

'But how does it _fit_? Fridges are small, they aren't _designed_ to have elephants shoved into them…I mean, even if you shrunk the elephant it probably wouldn't fit.' 

'Peter, it's a _joke_! Okay, imagine that it's a very _big_ fridge, right?'

'But- how does the giraffe get in? Don't they have long necks?' Peter's forehead was creased as he tried to understand what Lily was getting at. 

Lily threw up her hands. 'I give up.' She got up to answer the door- Jo and Sirius had knocked, for the first time in their life- and left Peter to imagine strange and wonderful thoughts about giraffes that could do poga. Or was it yoga?

'Hullo!' She said cheerfully, opening the door to her cold and chilly friends. They both grinned identical Cheshire cat grins (_Jo has been spending waay to much time with Sirius_, Lily thought) and then looked her over. 

'Has-' Sirius started to say enthusiastically, obviously very excited about something. 

Jo kicked him in the shins. 

'James made the fruitcake?' Sirius finished, after some quick thinking.

'There's fruitcake?' Lily looked surprised. Why had no one told her there was fruitcake? 

'I guess not,' Sirius said hurriedly. He rushed into the kitchen, and a moment later, they heard yells of pain, shouts, and then the crash of a frying pan. 

'I hope that wasn't the cake,' said Jo, peering into the kitchen. She heard what James and Sirius were saying and closed the door with a bang, her back to it. 

'Er- Lily! Come with me!'

'Was it the cake?'

'What cake? Um, no! Just…come. Now.'

Lily blinked, slightly confused by Jo's ramble, but she followed her anyway. 

'What's going on?' 

'Nothing,' Jo said, peering out the window to see if it was still raining. 

'Yeah, right…tell me!'

'No.'

'Please?'

'No.'

'Aw, come on Jo.'

Jo spun around on her heel biting her lip to stop herself from talking and to remind herself of all the pain she'd be in if she _did_ decide to talk. 

Lily sighed. There was something going on, and the only person besides Peter who didn't know what it was was her. 

***

At Hogwarts, the Christmas celebrations were in full swing. Rowena and Joey were throwing water balloons at each other (useful muggle thing they were, really) and just as Joey finally managed to hit Rowena with a balloon, they heard a loud bang from the end of the hall they were (not supposed to be) playing in. 

Rowena exchanged a glance with Joey, he nodded, and they ran to the end of the hall, their feet pounding on the stone floors. Rowena slipped several times- water was a slippery substance, after all. 

'Alex!' She shrieked once they were within seeing distance. She sprinted the rest of the way. 

He was lying on the ground, not moving, completely lifeless. 

'Uh oh,' Joey muttered. He had no clue of what else to say. 

'Maybe we should-' Rowena gulped. 'Get a teacher.' 

'Yeah…' Joey's eyes were wide, but they narrowed for moment, and he peered at something. 'What's that?'

'What?' Rowena asked, wondering why the hall was suddenly looking so wobbly. 

'That note,' Joey said, bending down to pick up the note. 

'Don't!' She snapped. 

Joey pretended not to hear her, and he unfolded the parchment- another piece fell out as he did so, and it fluttered to Rowena's feet. 

She picked it up. 'Joey…' She whispered, after reading for a moment. 'His mum died.'

'Did he kill himself or something?' Joey said, still unsure of how to react. 

'Yeah,' she said sarcastically, still numb from shock. 'He used the unforgivable curses on himself, the ones he hasn't even _learnt_ yet.'

'So why would anyone kill him? I mean, he was too dumb to do anything worthwhile.' 

Rowena slapped him, and they were both silent for a moment. 

'Hey, Ro,' Joey said after skimming through the letter he'd picked up. 'Why's he got your letter to Lily?'

'What?'

'The letter you wrote to Lily…this is it.'

Rowena snatched it away from him. 'Come on. I'm going to Dumbledore.'

Joey took one last look at the body, and a sick feeling rushed over him. 'D'you- d'you think they meant to kill him?'

'Yeah…you don't just fool around with those curses… Come on…I think I'm going to be sick.'

'Well, don't be sick on me.' 

***

At Lily's house the six of them lay around eating, drinking, and singing songs. Sirius did a re-enactment of Snape at the last Quidditch match (slightly exaggerated), while Lily watched the snow fall gently outside the window. 

'Have you asked her yet?' Sirius hissed to James. Remus glanced up and looked over at Lily. 

'He hasn't.'

'Now?' James hissed, and Jo nodded fervently, her eyes big. 

'Just ask her, you twit.'

James bristled. 'I am _not_ a pregnant fish…are you _sure_ I should ask _now_?' He was biting his lip in a most unlike James fashion. 

__

'James.' 

'Okay, okay. Hey, Lily!'

Lily looked over. 'Mm?'

'Want to marry me?' 

She stared at him, while Sirius gaped at James with his mouth wide open and Jo muttered 'good grief…'

James grinned at Lily hopefully, and she nodded, slightly dumbstruck. 'Okay…'

'Well, good. Now that that's all settled, who wants to open presents?' 

'Poor, poor Lily,' Jo said under breath. 'She's just agreed to marry the most un romantic man in the world…poor thing.'

***

Later that evening, Lily sat out on the balcony, her face white from the moonlight shining down on her. She was humming quietly to herself, a small smile of content on her face. When James came out she didn't say anything; she just glanced at him and then looked away thoughtfully. 

'D'you really want to marry me?' She said after awhile.

'Yeah.'

'Why?'

'You can cook.'

She hit him, laughing. 'No, really.'

He shrugged, his dark brown eyes looking into her own green pair, the stars reflecting in them so that it looked as though part of the sky had fallen into them. 'Because…right now, everything's so jumbled up and no one knows what's real and what isn't- I don't know who I can trust or who my real friends are and every time I step out the house there's a chance I could get killed. Because if something happened I'd want people to know that I loved you and even if nothing did happen I'd want to be with you…'

'I always wanted to be proposed to under the moon,' she said. 'I never thought someone'd yell across the room and ask me…'

'Okay, okay.' James knelt down and it would have been rather romantic, had he not had a grin on his face, almost as though he was trying not to laugh. 'Marry me?'

Lily didn't say anything for a few seconds; she just gazed at him with an almost sad look in her eyes. Then the sadness was replaced with a kind of joy, and she leapt into his arms.

James choked. 'Oxygen' he gasped, and she released her hold on him around his neck. 'You really want to marry me?'

'Course I do, twit,' she said, leaning back against him. 'When?'

'Oh, I dunno. Maybe when we're, say, fifty?'

Lily poked him. 

'Sometime. Sirius said I had to ask you now because otherwise you'd dump me for the guy at the newsagent.'

Lilt thought about it. 'He _is_ quite cute,' she said slowly, her forehead wrinkled with fake concentration. 

'Well, Miss Lily. You know what I really, really want to do?'

'What?'

James grinned evilly, his teeth glinting in the moonlight. 'Tell Petunia.'

Lily rubbed her hands together. 'Off we go.' 

They walked inside, James getting their coats and calling 'we're just going somewhere, see you all later, okay?'

'Bye!'

The door closed softly behind them, and Jo looked at Sirius, who was sipping on butterbeer with a ridiculously satisfied grin on his face.

'D'you think they need chaperoning?' She asked, listening to their footsteps on the landing outside. 

'Nah, they're getting married, they're allowed to act indecently.'

'Really?'

'Can you imagine Lily Evans acting indecently in public? It wouldn't happen,' he said, finishing off with a loud burp. 'Besides. If I know James and Lily, they won't get married for ages. They're far too disorganised.'

'True.'

'Maybe,' said Peter, still watching the door for some reason, 'they'll still be engaged when they're 30.'

'I'll bet you 10 galleons they get married before they're 25,' said Jo. 

'Okay.'

'I'll bet they get eloped next week,' said Sirius. 

'What?'

'You know, run away, get married in some little chapel-'

'Yes, we know that,' Jo said impatiently. 'But why would they- oh, who cares. How much d'you want to bet?'

'5 galleons.'

'Only five?' The disappointment in her voice was evident. 

'I'm not completely daft,' he said. 

'Could've fooled me,' she muttered. 

***

'Oh, _Petunia_!' 

Lily and James were standing outside a very plain house, with lots of little flowers growing in neat little rows, the colours all matching perfectly. 

James pressed the doorbell again, and voice could be heard calling ' I'm coming, wait a moment!' 

'How many moments have we already been here?' James said. 

'Too many.' Lily said, waiting almost nervously for Petunia. 

The lock clicked and the door swung open, revealing a tall and very skinny woman, wearing a nightgown. She scowled at them. 

'What are _you_ doing here?' She said snappily, her eyes narrowing at the sight of Lily and James. 

'We just wanted to tell you something.'

'What?' She said, as if they'd already wasted enough of her time and to hurry up. 

'Want to come to our wedding?' James piped up, smiling charmingly at her. 

Petunia's mouth dropped open. 'What?' 

'Are you losing your hearing, 'Tunia?' Lily asked innocently. 

'You- you're too young!' She said, recovering from shock. 

'We aren't going to get married _now_, silly,' Lily said. 'We just thought you might want an invitation, so you wouldn't feel left out.'

Petunia struggled to say something, decided there was nothing to say, and she slammed the door. 

'Well,' James said, turning away. 'That went well.'

'Very.' Lily said, smirking. 

***

'What?' Lord Voldemort hissed. 'Those two, engaged?' To someone standing a few metres away it would have looked like he was talking to the floor. But closer up it was clear that he was actually having a conversation with a very small and tiny snake, which was also hissing. 

'When did this happen?' He demanded. 

The snake told him, and his hand collided with the table with such force a large crack appeared down the middle of the grain. 

He too a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. 'Well. If we can't get them now, there is one little thing I'd like. There's a wizard family with two little children- the parents are both Aurors, I believe. What is their name again? Ah, yes…the McKinnons.' He rubbed his hands together with what almost looked like glee. 

'What a pity…such young little children.'

***

That night, a large, poisonous green skull floated up into the sky, a snake slithering out of its mouth. 

Okay. This took me absolutely forever and I'm really, really sorry. I've been told off, slapped, trapped in a headlock- not for the same reason but it was still painful (hear that, Lucinda?) and so even though my beta reader hasn't answered me yet- I don't know if they're on holiday or anything, so I thought I'd better post it. It's not that long (sorry, sorry) but I honestly haven't had any time to type lately. 

Christa Crabbe? Are you happy? They probably won't get married for awhile, but I did need that to happen for certain reasons that are slowly developing in my mind. 

I will post the next part to Lily Angel soon, and it'll be longer than the rest of them, partly because I feel mean and partly because it'll be the last part. 

Oh, and I've never actually seen anyone propose or anything…so I wasn't quite sure how to write it. And there'll be about 3 or 4 more parts to this- they'll all be quite long- because there's still, like, five years for me to write about and I don't want to have 20 parts. 

So, if you bothered to read all that- review? 


	9. oh, lookie at that cake.

OH MY GOD. She is updating? [you may not remember this story ever existed, so don't worry] but Yasmin insisted and as I don't want abusive phone calls in the middle of the night, here we go. It might not be very good. Sorry it's taken so long and that this is quite short. But I figured may as well put it up. I have it all plotted out and I know how I'm going to end it but I haven't done it yet.

Hope there aren't too many mistakes. My beta reader hasn't written back but when she does I'll fix it. [she may also have forgotten my existence.]

Oh yes, and thankyou lucy for not letting me up load that terrible, terrible, terrible chapter. Shudder. 

****

Just As Long As We're Together.

The next chapter. 

The weather was terrible, windows rattling loudly from the force of the wind shaking them, rain pounding on the roof- a dark, wet and thoroughly miserable day. Jo Gilles felt suitably awful this particular day, sitting on the couch of her shared flat, feeling grumpy. The flat itself was dark, but for a candle suspended above her head so she could read her book. 

Jo wasn't entirely sure what the title of the book was, and she couldn't quite remember who the characters were and what they had been doing over the past few hundred pages. She was just sitting, flipping idly through the pages and scanning them. 

Life sucked. 

Well, it didn't really suck. She knew that. She knew it was just her grumpiness that made life so incredibly sucky today, but even so. Jo didn't even know why she was grumpy- there were reasons tucked away at the back of her mind, but the back of your mind can be a very difficult place to access and so they were only vague reasons to her. 

She sniffled. Some people have all the good luck, her mind grumbled to itself. Some people get boyfriends who want to marry them and buy them flowers occasionally, even if in between they act rather weird and bizarre but that is not the point. Some people are lucky, Jo thought, and it was obvious she was not one of those people. 

That week had actually been an unusually good week. It made it so annoying she was feeling pathetic now, in contrast to her happiness. Nothing interesting happened at work, which soothed her and made her feel calm, Lily and she had stayed up late one night making cakes for the sole reason that they felt like making cakes, Voldemort had not done anything at all for ages and that in itself was a reason for celebrating. 

Actually she really felt like cake, but Sirius had been over earlier and now there was no cake left, damn him to hell. What a stupid, stupid day she thought. Why did Sirius have to eat all the cake?

Jo placed her book down harder than what was actually necessary, and stomped off towards the kitchen. She needed corn chips. If there was no cake, she needed chips. Jo reached the kitchen and flicked on the light, blinking as her eyes struggled to get used to the change. 

On the table she saw a little rose that was different shades of pink and strangely enough green. There was a note attached to it, and scribbled on the parchment in dark green ink was written _greetings, jo-jo. Have a nice day. _

Aww. What a lovely day it was. 

***

The underground meeting room was filled with people, the atmosphere far more subdued and quiet than it had been during that very first meeting which felt like so long ago. The sound of the rain outside was muffled but could easily be heard over the dull murmur of people. Professor Dumbledore was late, though this was a fairly normal occurrence, and some people, namely Sirius, were becoming restless. 

'I'm bored,' he whined. He was sitting on the edge of an armchair in a slightly uncomfortable position. Remus, who was seated [comfortably] in the armchair, glanced up at him. 'You sounded suspiciously like a two year old then, Padfoot.' 

'It's the _truth_. Dumbledore has been late for the last three meetings, for goodness sake. That is ridiculous. Right now I could be doing something very important.'

James snorted. 

'I could!' Sirius protested. 'I'm working on a new motor for my bike, thankyou very much.' 

'Ah yes, the sole reason for living.'

Before Sirius could argue that no, this was not the sole reason he existed [though it was pretty darn important] Professor Dumbledore swept in, his long purple robes flowing behind him. 

'Good evening,' he said gravely, and the room fell silent. 'I have some very important matters to discuss. Firstly- a student at Hogwarts as been murdered.'

A whisper swept through the room. 

'I cannot be sure how this came about, nor the _reasons_ for it ['that's because Voldemort is insane,' Sirius whispered to James] but it makes it clear that more protection is needed on the castle. I have already placed some people on this job, and the attack is currently being investigated. I suspect he may have attacked at a time when our defences became weak.'

'On another note, I was recently speaking with Mr Crouch- who works for the Ministry- and he would like to ask our assistance in a few matters. I told him I would speak with you.' Professor Dumbledore paused for a moment, his blue eyes staring at the floor as he thought. 

'He would like some of you to work with the Aurors- not alongside them, but for us to pass information and therefore help catch the Death Eaters with a combined effort.'

Mundungus Fletcher growled. 'Thought they din't need our help,' he growled, waving his wand about. 'Thought they had everything under control? What it says in the papers, innit?' 

Professor Dumbledore silenced him with a look. 'I understand you may not agree. Personally I find that working alongside them may help us a great deal, and place more trust in us within the Ministry. Possibly, they will now help us if we are caught in a difficult situation.

'I will give you all a moment to think this through.'

The small group gathered around the armchair didn't say anything for a few seconds, until Sirius came around. 'How'd they get in at _Hogwarts_?' He hissed. 'I thought that was meant to be _safe_?'

'It _is_. Someone must have…somehow…got in.' Lily said uncomfortably. 

'Then it's not safe, is it? No where's safe. We may as well go out into the street and drink cups of tea and wait for them to kill us all.'

'Shut up, Sirius. You're being an idiot. I agree with Dumbledore. We work with them. We've got nothing to lose.' James looked at the rest of them. Jo nodded. Remus, deep in thought, slowly gave a nod of agreement, and Sirius sighed and said 'I s'pose.'

'Lily?' 

'Yeah.'

'Okay then,' James said firmly. 'We all agree. Good.'

'Some day, you'll become Minister for Magic, Prongs, and we'll all have to bow down to you. I can see it. And Lily'll be our Queen. I shall be your messenger and Remus will be the pageboy, and Jo here can cook for us. Or something. We will all live on a little castle on the hill where I can ride my motor bike along the clouds while you rule over everyone. When all this is over, of course. Until then we'll be Superman's and fight the bad guys…' Sirius sighed, while Lily gave him an affectionate punch. 'Sirius, you are insane.'

'Thankyou, my dear.' 

Professor Dumbledore called them back to order. It was unanimous, and when Dumbledore left it was to tell the Ministry they would help. 

***

Rowena and Joey, both dressed in robes and cloaks and scarfs and mittens and extra pairs of socks, walked slowly across the school grounds, both feeling rather dull. The passed Hagrid's hut, which was empty, passed the vegetable patch which was currently frozen over, and came to a tree whose branches were nice and close to the fallen snow on the ground. 

They sat down, after brushing the snow off the tree. Rowena stared at her mittens for a moment. They were really quite pretty, with little snowmen dancing across them smiling with cheerful raisin smiles. 

'What do you want to be when you grow up?' she said abruptly to Joey, who jumped, startled. 

'Oh. You know. Something.'

'That's _fascinating_… Really, what d'you want to do?' Rowena pressed, rocking backwards and forwards on the branch, shivering a bit with cold. 

'I dunno. I want to travel. You know, see the world and stuff. Once I can apparate I'll go everywhere… how 'bout you?'

Rowena shrugged. 'Do you ever get the feeling that nothing really matters?'

'Um.' Joey didn't quite grasp the change of direction in the conversation. 

'Like one day it'll all be over anyway, and no one will remember you and you won't even be able to _think_ and none of what we did _matters_.'

'Er-not really.'

Rowena sighed, exasperated. 'But what is the point?'

'The point to _what_, exactly?' 

'Everything!' Rowena gestured around her. 'Why are we right now sitting on this tree? Is there any reason, or is it just… because?'

'It is just because,' Joey said with an air of knowledge that annoyed his friend further. 'Why do you ask?'

She stared at the snow silently for a moment. 'I don't know. It's just- when I lie in bed at night it feels like there are all these thoughts pressing in on my head, and I can't help _wondering_ why we're here and where we'll go when it's all over. Because you can't just stop existing, can you?' She twisted her fingers together and looked at him hopefully, but Joey's eyes were completely blank. 

'Perhaps you should ask Trelawney. She might be of use.' 

Rowena snorted, stood up, brushed the snow of her robes and started back to the castle. Winter was such a stupid time of year. 

*

Lily stared at the clock on the wall. It was not straight. The number twelve should have been at the very top of the circle, but it was in fact tilted a bit to the left so that _one_ was at the head of the clock.

This most certainly would not do, and clearly she could not leave it be. She peered under the cushion, looking for her wand. As Lily was not the most tidy person in the world it never occurred to her to look in the normal places first- the wand would have to be somewhere completely unreasonable, unless she looked in the unreasonable places first, in which case the wand would most likely be sitting on the table where it should have been.

Of course, it was on the table, for that is the way things work. 

She picked it up and toyed with it for a moment, wiped off a smudge at the end, then flicked it at the clock, and it righted itself promptly. Lily frowned. It was not nearly as satisfying, using your wand for work like that. It did make it seem rather…boring. 

She flicked the wand a second time, and the clock tipped back to the way it had been, and Lily smiled, pleased. She then stood up, put her wand down, dragged a stool over to the clock, and stood on it. Unfortunately, Jo, who was much taller than Lily, had placed it up there and Lily could not reach it without standing on her tip toes, and even then it was a hard struggle to actually touch it, let alone be able to move it without falling to the ground. 

She decided to do a few little jumps. Hopefully, at the peak of a jump she could just quickly move it round a little bit so that twelve would be at the top. It was important for her to achieve this, for obvious reasons.

On about the third jump, there was a loud knock at the door, so Lily jumped a few feet higher than what was actually necessary. Not only did she manage to move the clock over, she knocked it right down and onto the floor, where it smashed with a loud crash. And if the clock hadn't already been too broken, Lily landed on it as she came down, missing the little stool altogether. 

'Typical,' she muttered. 'Just typical.'

After kicking the pieces of clock to one side, Lily stomped to the front door, and peeped through the spy hole at the front. 

She couldn't see anybody for a moment, which seemed a little suspicious, until she looked down and saw a head of dark hair standing in front of the door. She assumed there was a body along with the head, but she could not see that much of the figure as of yet.

After deciding someone that short couldn't possibly be dangerous, but it still would be useful to have her wand, she grabbed her wand, and rushed back to the door. Lily opened it slowly. 

Standing on the purple 'welcome' mat on the doorstep stood Rowena, looking decidedly nervous. 

'Oh! Hallo,' Lily said, dropped her wand down to her side, smiling. 

'Hallo.' 

'Come in,' Lily said, remembering people did not like standing out in the freezing cold [except for sales people. They like that.] and would prefer coming inside to talk. 

Rowena nodded, and looked back over her shoulder as she entered. There was a strange prickling sensation upon her neck, as though someone was watching her. She shrugged the feeling off, looking around the rather messy flat. On the floor was what looked like pieces of a clock.

Lily scowled at the now useless clock, pointed her wand at it, muttering a spell, and it sprang back together again. The clock floated up to the wall and hung itself upon the nail hammered in, the number one seated carefully at the top. 

'You bloody clock,' Lily muttered.

Turning back to Rowena, she pointed the clock. 'You can sit down, if you want.'

Rowena sank down onto the cushions gratefully- her feet were aching from the long walk from the train station. 

'You snuck out again, didn't you?' Lily said, guessing the answer.

'Well. Yeah. Joey was useless to talk to and there's no one else. Anyway, I needed to talk to you.'

'Me?' Lily blinked, and then something in her brain registered a conversation they'd had a few weeks back, around Christmas. 'You've been having more of those dreams?'

'Not really. Some. They're just so weird, and I don't even know _why_ I'm having them. Like I said, Joey's an idiot, and you can't talk to teachers, except maybe Professor Trelawney, and can you imagine _her_? She'd come up with another reason I'm not going to make it to fifteen.'

'I feel your pain.' Lily thought for a moment, but she wasn't exactly sure of what to say next. 'Um.'

Rowena didn't notice. 'I did have an idea, but it's kind of stupid.'

'Tell me anyway.'

'D'you promise you won't laugh?' 

'Cross my heart.'

'Well…the boy in my dreams, right? You know how I said he was your son, maybe?'

'Mmm.'

'I see him as a baby and as an older boy-'

'How d'you know he's not James when he's older?' Lily interrupted. 

'He's got green eyes, like yours. Anyway, so that must mean I can see the future!' Rowena's dark eyes gleamed at this prospect. She'd always vaguely known it- after all, Lily having a baby must be sometimes in future- she glanced at Lily, who was looking at the lopsided clock on the wall with a very dissatisfied expression on her face, and decided she could not see her with a child anytime in the _near_ future- but to be able to see eleven or twelve years into the future- she liked the sound of that.

Lily came out of a trance. 'D'you know what his name was?' she asked curiously. 

Rowena racked her brains. Her dreams generally didn't have sound in them, but somehow, as it is in dreams, she knew who everyone was and everything made sense, it was just when she woke up that the details became fuzzy. 

'Harry,' she said firmly, not knowing how she knew but she was sure all the same. 'His name was Harry.'

Lily turned the name over in head, trying it out. 'Harry Potter,' she muttered. 'I like that. '

'So d'you think I am a seer?' Rowena said tentatively, leaning forward on her seat. 

'I would say that it is a distinct possibility,' Lily said, nodding her head. 'Of course, I'm no expert on the matter. I can't remember a thing of Divination, except for the lesson Trelawney's hat caught fire. That was amusing.'

Rowena's face broke out into a grin, excited about possibly being able to tell the future [or at least one boys future] and imagining Professor Trelawney leaping about, her hat alive with flames. 'Wait till I tell Joey, he'll be _so_ jealous. He can't see a thing in his crystal ball, apart from fogginess.'

The clock struck 4, and Lily glanced at of the window. 'You'd probably better be getting back to school. It's almost dark.'

Rowena nodded her head, standing up. 'Thanks. I mean, I know you didn't exactly do much, but thanks for not laughing at me or anything.'

'You're very welcome. Thankyou for not telling me my child could possibly be called Gertrude.' As Lily said this, she opened the front door, her wand in front of her. She squinted out into the dark coldness. 'I'll walk you part way to the station, if you want.'

'Thankyou,' Rowena said, stamping her feet in the cold. Lily rushed inside to grab her cloak, and she wrapped it around herself, shivering. Locking the door behind them, they started off down the footpath silently. 

'Do you think there's a reason we're all here?' Rowena asked, thinking of her rather pointless conversation with Joey. 

Lily shrugged. 'I don't know. There must be, mustn't there?'

'I don't know,' Rowena answered, feeling a little helpless, and wishing she could just be happy with that. 

They were nearing the station, Lily could see the lights of the platform glittering in the distance. 'Would you like to come to my wedding? I have no idea when it will be, but you're invited, if you'd like.'

Rowena blinked. 'You're getting married?' 

'Er- one day. I mean, we're engaged. James and I. It could be for ages, but some day there'll be a wedding. At least. I hope.'

'Well, I would be honoured to come,' Rowena said, smiling up at her companion. 

'Good. Now, you'd better be off to school. Or McGonagall will whip you.'

'Erm- yes. Goodbye!' Rowena saw the train pull up by the platform, and she started running, her robes flying up around her legs. The train's whistle blew, and Rowena dashed past a dark alleyway, leading towards the train, taking off about fifty metres of her run. She didn't think, her mind only told her that she did not want to wait an hour for the next train, and she sprinted down the cobblestone lane. 

Lily was walking quickly home, her face aching from the cold. She sniffed, rubbing her nose with her glove, and she was just beginning to think that maybe she should apparate back home, when a loud piercing scream echoed through the crisp night air.

Lily spun around, all thoughts of the cold pushed out of her mind. She scanned the area for Rowena's slim figure, but only saw the train, chugging away loudly. It's okay, she told herself. She would have made the train. She would have made the train. It can't- it _can't_ have been her. 

Her legs were moving before she told them to, and she almost ran right past the alley, but out of the corner of her eye she saw a short figure dart around the corner at the end of the alley, and she rushed into, her wand held out in front of her. 

Lying on the ground in a heap, dark robes rippling in the breeze, was a Rowena. 

Lily let out a cry and fell to the ground next to her, wand ready. She felt for a pulse, but the young girl's body was entirely still. Lily's hands shook, one thought running through her mind. _This is all your fault._

She sat there for what seemed like hours, cradling the dark head to her chest, stroking the hair that tumbled down in a mess. It was too cold to cry, but her eyes hurt her. 

*

The congregation at the church were not quiet- students from Hogwarts sat with their parents, some crying, some just numb and unsure of what to do. 

In the front pew sat Rowena's parents, dressed formally in black. Her father's arm was around her mother's shoulders, which were shaking violently. The father was white and stone still, but for the hand that stroked his wife's back, steadily, because that was all he could do. 

Lily and James entered from the back and took a seat towards the entrance. James squeezed Lily's hand reassuringly. She didn't look at him. She stared at the coffin in front of the altar with wide green eyes. Her face was a sickly pale colour, and dark rings circled her eyes. Her dreams had been haunted by dark alleyways and screams when she did sleep, but most of her time was spent staring lifelessly out of the window, except for when she had to be at work- that time was best, because she didn't have to think. 

People dying at Voldemort's hand had always made her feel sick, as though a rock had dropped into her stomach, but in time she learnt to push the boulders aside and move on. It's different when someone you know has died- you are actually hit by it and rocked and terrified, because it's not just a name, not just a face that is gone forever. It's an actual person, with thoughts and feelings and suddenly, just like _that_, they're gone. 

And it was all her fault. Lily couldn't remember why she didn't walk Rowena to the train station, she couldn't remember why she had let her run all that way in the dark alone. 

She ran through the events of that night time and time again, but whenever she tried to clearly think about what had happened, the only thing that came to light was a scream, and a cobblestone lane with a figure sprawled across it.

A boy with brown hair entered the church, long strands of it falling into his eyes, which she saw, looking at him closer, were red. His eyes met hers for a second, but he looked away and walked off to sit towards the front of the church. 

*

2 years later

Lily lay on her back on the couch, her legs kicking at the air. She was off in a daydream, mainly about James dinking her on a bike all the way to Paris, but Hippogriffs sometimes pedalled besides them on the narrow path lines with daffodils. 

Jo bounced in, her hair in a towel and her face quizzical- she didn't know why Lily was pedalling at the air. When Lily didn't notice her expression, Jo decided it was obviously not important, and plopped down next to her with a loud sigh.

Lily snapped out of her trance, dropped her legs down to a normal height, and sat up. 

'How far away is Paris?' She said, her forehead furrowed in thought. 

'Er- I've never been there,' Jo answered. 'But I imagine it's not too far. Just over there.' At this, Jo waved her hand around in a vague motion. 

'Do you think it would be possible to ride a bike there?' 

'Well, it's over water, isn't it, so no. Unless you did something to the bike but then if it broke down you'd be in a lot of trouble. You'd also be very wet. Are you going to ride a bike to Paris?' She asked interestedly. 'Can I come?'

'You don't have a bike,' Lily said.

Jo shrugged. 'Neither do you.'

'Oh. Yes. Anyway, it was a stupid idea… I was thinking, what flavour cake should we have at the wedding? Because I really like chocolate, but sometimes it's really dry and that's not so nice, it makes it taste a little like coffee or something. Either way it's not nice. And then vanilla, well, vanilla's nice but it's so plain, don't you think?'

'Yeah,' Jo nodded agreeably. 

'And then strawberry.' Lily cocked her head to one side, puzzling over the many wonders of strawberry cake. 'It's pink. It's nice too, but it's _pink_. And strawberry cake always makes me want strawberries.'

'But strawberry cake is practically the same as strawberries anyway, isn't it?' 

'No.' Lily shook her head vigorously. 'Strawberry cake just tastes like strawberries, but it's not juicy- because it couldn't be juicy, could it, because it's a cake.' 

'Oh. Then have mudcake. I love mudcake.'

'A really big mudcake, or a little mudcake?'

'A big mudcake. Because otherwise people can't have big pieces and they think we're being greedy, keeping all the cake for ourselves.' Jo seemed to understand a lot about mudcake, even if she wasn't quite so up to date on strawberry matters. 

'Well, do you think we could have a mudcake, a vanilla cake- because James likes it, you see- a normal chocolate cake for people who like that, a strawberry cake and real strawberries in case I really need some. That would be good, wouldn't it? And no one could complain about it because they'd all have something nice.'

'What about people who don't like cake?' Jo said after a moments thought. 

Lily stared at her blankly.


End file.
